Girl Under Fire
by Marjorie K. Place
Summary: The third Story in the my Gone Girl series. After Brody and LaSalle are ambushed by Fod's assassin, the office is placed under investigation and Pride is removed as the Agent in Charge, leaving Brody to face Fod on her own. Includes all major characters and a couple of guest agents.
1. A Prayer for the Fallen

**This is the third chapter in my Gone Girl Series. It is not necessary to have read the other two stories but it would be helpful to fill in the backstory. This story is AU as the initial chapter in the series was written in January. Brody also has an adoptive sister, named Sophie (a very minor character, name only) as Emily and the events of the Moultrie were not yet revealed.**

 **Gone Girl : Brody is abducted and tortured by a vengeful terrorist, Adkom Fod who is seeking the location of Brody's adopted sister, Sophie. **

**Girl Astray : Brody must rely on LaSalle as she struggles to recover from the events of her abduction but is later betrayed when he keeps valuable information from her regarding her adopted sister, Sophie. After Brody is reunited with Sophie, she and Chris are ambushed by Fod.**

 **Thank you: I want to say thank you to the 3 guests and Savannah for your great comments on the conclusion of Girl Astray. They are very much appreciated and I hope that you will enjoy this story as well.**

 **Chp 1: A Prayer for the Fallen.**

 _It hurts to breath…_

Meredith Brody swiped her eyes as she sat in the chapel looking up at the giant crucifix above the altar. Though she wasn't a particularly religious woman, she believed in faith. She had to believe in something otherwise the massive hole where her heart used to be was going to swallow her whole. Without Chris, she was nothing but a soulless figure and a mess of tears.

It had been three days days since she and her partner had been brutally ambushed by her kidnapper's trained killer, leaving LaSalle for dead. Chris had been stabbed three times in the back, leaving Brody as his only chance for survival.

The assassin who had been sent after them definitely knew what he was doing. He knew exactly where to drive the knife into LaSalle's back so that it would cause the most damage to the liver, lungs and kidneys.

Three surgeries in three days, and 4 pints of blood, Chris LaSalle was barely hanging on by thread. Loretta had called in all of her favors to get the best surgeon she knew but it still didn't seem to be enough. Internal bleeding, low kidney function, and an irregular sinus rhythm continued to plague the fallen agent. Phrases like _placement in a long term care facility_ , _permanent damage, dialysis,_ and there's a chance _he might never recover_ were being used as if his fate were already being sealed. Hospital administration had already approached Cade about assistance in making funeral arrangements. Eager organ donation liaisons were chomping at the bit.

How in the world was he ever going to come back from this? One thing was certain; he would not survive another surgery. Something as simple as a sneeze would kill him. At the moment, there seemed to be no hope in sight. Just waiting. Waiting for the next shoe to drop.

* * *

Her eyes were already the size of Ping-Pong balls she thought as the tears started to flow again as flashbacks started to assault her. God, she was such an idiot. They should have never been in that alley-way making out like love struck teenagers. They should have anticipated, Fod's next move instead of letting themselves get boxed in. She should have known that Fod would come after them. She should have been ready. But instead, here she was the vapid victim who had failed to use her common sense.

She had failed Chris both as a partner and a lover. God, she had failed him miserably. Chris, the man who saved her from Fod the first time, the one who had used himself as bait to help find Sophie, the one who had pulled her up by her bootstrings when all she wanted to be a wallowing drunk, was now lying comatose in a hospital bed.

How she failed in comparison.

If she could have just one more chance, she would make it all up to him.

If God would just grant her this one request she would never ask for anything again.

 _I love him so much, s_ he said silently lifting her lashes to the spiritual figure on the cross as a dimly lit candle on the altar suddenly went out. A sign that they weren't meant to be?

She closed her eyes as a long stream of simultaneous tears began to fall down her face like an endless winding river of pain. She had cried so much over the past three days that abrasions were starting to form on her cheeks. At the moment there was nothing professional about her and she didn't care. Pride had tried to coax her back to work just to pull her out of her funk but what he didn't see was that she was drowning in a sea of heartbreak. The overly personal and reserved agent was dying right beside her fallen partner. Fod was going to win this battle and there was nothing she could do about it.

In the back of her mind, she knew that eventually she had to seek out the man who had put her partner in this position, but at the moment, she couldn't fathom the thought. She would have to wait until LaSalle was safe and out of danger, but once that happened nothing would stop her from bringing Adkom Fod to justice.

* * *

From the back of the chapel, Loretta stood keeping a watchful eye over the crestfallen agent. Looking heavenward, she uttered a small prayer.

 _Please Dear Sweet Jesus, let that boy pull through._

 ** _A/N: Sorry this first chapter is so short, but I liked the idea of Brody sitting the chapel and didn't want anything to take away from it. Chapter 2 is ready to go!_**


	2. Agents in Arms

**A/N: I want to say thank you in advance to all of you "Guests" who will leave reviews and how much you are appreciated. I also want to give a shout-out to those readers who put this story on alert: KBL Fan, Trina Tiffany, randysunshine80, KittyKate2203 and Jet1967.**

 **FYI: There is a special guest agent in this chapter that I love to hate.**

 **48 hours later…**

"Brody?"

"Brody!"

She woke with a start and wild eyed as a pair of hands started to shake her. For several seconds, she stared at a blurry vision of Pride as her heart calmed to its normal rate. She'd had that dream again, the one where she was looking into Chris' cold and vacant blue eyes. It wasn't so much of dream as much as flashback, that kept adding a morbid spin.

"You were screaming," he said as she pushed a hand through her near shoulder length hair. Ignoring the older agent, she pushed to her feet, sidestepping him and sighed with relief as she watched the rise and fall of Chris' chest. He was still there, right where she left him when she'd fallen asleep on the pull-out couch.

A slight smile tipped her lips. He'd actually made it twelve whole hours without some sort of alarm going off. Were things finally starting to look up? She watched him for a moment more until she felt Pride's hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh…huh," she nodded never taking her eyes off Chris.

"I'm going downstairs to get some coffee. You want some?" Pride sensed that she still needed a few moments to collect herself from whatever nightmare had been plaguing her. Not that he had to guess, it was probably one that mirrored his own.

"Sure."

"Ok, I'll be right back."

As soon as Pride left the room, she crossed over to the bed and kissed LaSalle's slack lips. Slowly and gently she traced the outline of his jaw with her fingers hoping it would garner some sort of response. When it didn't, she took a hold of his hand, and gave it a squeeze before pressing it to her cheek.

"I love you, Chris."

Still nothing.

It was now day five of his seemingly never ending sleep. She tried to tell herself that this was just his body's way of trying to heal itself, but as each day passed by she felt like another piece of him was slipping away.

"12 hours with no alarms going off is a good sign, right?" she looked at the nurse who had just entered the room to take his vital signs.

"Absolutely. However, coma patients have been known to wake up and become completely lucid right before they pass." The woman wanted to be positive, but she didn't want to give the agent false hope. Chris was still in grave condition and could turn on a dime at any minute.

Brody watched intently as the woman checked his eyes for any response to light. Nothing. Afterwards, the nurse pressed two knuckles firmly into his sternum, checking his response to pain. Again, no response.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to celebrate his success in baby-steps," the nurse said, again trying to find a ray of positivity in his 12 hours of stability.

"Baby-steps," Brody repeated trying to remain hopeful as she remembered, LaSalle was a fighter. Obviously, after five days of hell he wasn't planning on going out easily. He was busy trying to recover.

* * *

Assistant Director, Owen Granger, hated New Orleans with a passion. He hated the heat, the noise, the smell, and even the food. But what he hated most of all was dealing with Dwayne Pride. Pride was always smug and a bit arrogant about his beloved city. To top things off the man failed to see the big picture. For years, Director Vance had been ignoring the small independent run office but now that Pride and his bunch had made headlines over an international terrorist running amuck, attacking and kidnapping agents, Vance had no choice but to take some action. Unfortunately for Granger, since Los Angeles was closer to NOLA than Washington D.C. he had the job of playing the bad guy.

Vance wanted his injured agent protected and Granger had been given the pleasure of moving him to undisclosed location. It was a given that Dwayne Pride would fight him, tooth and nail but Granger was ready. He and Pride had gone head to head on several previous occasions. So he knew what he was walking into.

Brody was in the room when Granger entered.

"Assistant Director, Granger?"

"Agent Brody," Granger returned in his usual monotone stature.

Brody looked her superior curiously. It wasn't like the brass to just be dropping in on them much less just showing up at the hospital unannounced. "May I ask what you're doing here, sir?"

"Don't call me, sir," Granger answered as he glanced over at LaSalle. "Where is Agent Pride?"

"He went down stairs to get a cup of coffee."

Granger gave a slight nod. "How's LaSalle doing?"

"There's been no change," Brody said flatly watching as Granger rubbed his chin.

"I know this isn't the place," he started but do you mind telling me what you and Agent LaSalle were doing when you were attacked?"

Brody shrank a little. She had the feeling she was about to take some heat regarding the moment she and Chris had shared right before he was stabbed. "We were walking down an alleyway to our cars."

Grainger gave her a tight smile. "Are you aware that a street camera caught everything on video?" As part of a city wide effort to stop violent crime against tourists, cameras that included views of alleyways on Bourbon Street had been installed as a deterrent.

"Director Vance and I have watched it many times." he added, pinning the agent with a disapproving gaze.

Caught in the act, Brody hung her head. The idea that they had seen her and Chris about to fornicate like rabbits completely mortified her. "It was completely my fault, sir."

Granger rolled his eyes as her face began to turn beet red. "From what I saw it looked pretty mutual. Tell me Agent Brody are you and agent LaSalle sleeping together?"

"Don't answer that." Pride appeared in the doorway. "Owen? What's going on?"

Now the shit was really going to hit the fan.

Forgetting about Brody, Granger turned to face Pride as the real battle was about to begin. "I have a direct order from Director Vance to move Agent LaSalle."

"Move him?" Pride's eyes went wide. "What the hell for?"

"The man is still a target. He needs protection." Granger said calmly.

"Are you saying I can't keep my agent safe?" Pride challenged as he stepped into the room and set his coffee on the arm rest of the couch.

 _He isn't your agent. The assistant director thought smugly._

Granger rolled his eyes. Of course, Pride was going to fight this. "It is the opinion of Director Vance that based on the lack of security and your lack of leadership Agent LaSalle's medical needs would be best served someplace else." In the eyes of the agency, Pride had failed to keep his agents safe. Not to mention he had failed to supervise them properly. The public display of affection that had been caught on camera angered Vance to no end.

Lack of leadership? Where in the hell was this coming from? Sure Pride had a couple of scrapes over the years that could have gotten him into trouble, but Director Vance had always turned a blind eye and had allowed him to run his office in his own way.

Pride clenched his jaw trying to keep his anger in check. "You can't just take him." The man was in critical condition due to the fact that three of his vital organs had been pierced by a large knife. He wasn't even listed as stable yet.

Granger pulled out a piece of paper from his coat pocket. "Actually, I can. I have a signed consent from LaSalle's mother. Director Vance and I now have control of all medical decisions." He said as two EMTs entered the room with a gurney. A lifeline helicopter was already waiting on the roof to transport the comatose agent to a new facility.

Brody's voice wobbled as she spoke. "Where are you taking him to?"

"That's classified." Granger said, waving the rest of the mobile medical team into the room.

Brody looked at Pride. "Can they do this?"

"Over my dead body." Pride stepped closer to Granger so that they were nearly toe-to-toe. "I don't care if you have consent. You're not moving him." Chris was his agent and his responsibility. "I take care of my family, my own way and Leon knows that."

"And it looks like you've done a bang up job considering your two senior agents were caught on camera, clearly unprepared, which landed one of them in a coma." Granger watched Pride's upper lip begin to curl. He hadn't wanted things to go down this way but Pride had given him no choice. "Effective immediately, you are relieved of your position as agent in charge. I'll be running the field office until the Fod situation is under control."


	3. To Move or Not to Move

**A/N: Thank you to the three "Guests" and Savannah for your amazing reviews. You Rock! Here's a bit more!**

 **Chapter 3**

 **To Move or Not to Move**

* * *

"You and Christopher should have told me about your relationship," Pride hissed as he and Brody were shuffled out of the room so that the medical team, Granger had hired could prepare to move Chris.

Brody averted her eyes. "Sorry, we meant to. We've just been trying to work things out."

"Work this out, Pride said pointing a finger,"In five minutes, he'll be gone to God knows where and I have zero control over it." Pride was more frustrated with the situation than he was at Brody. The one thing that he cherished about the New Orleans office was that he and Chris had been able to keep it off the radar and out of the limelight of bureaucracy within the agency. Until now…

"I'm sorry about the video. Chris and I were completely irresponsible," Brody said lowly as Granger's personal assistant brushed passed them.

"We have a problem, sir. The doctor who is overseeing Agent LaSalle's case is refusing to sign the release forms on the grounds that he isn't stable." Twelve hours without a single complication wasn't enough to for any sane doctor to approve a transport without fear of repercussion.

"Don't need it." Granger shrugged waving around his signed power of attorney.

"If that boy dies during transport and comes back across my table, I will not hesitate to list the cause of death as human error." Loretta's voice boomed.

Granger whirled around to face the medical examiner. He'd seen the likes of Loretta Wade before and would not be intimidated by empty threats.

"List whatever you'd like. But, please step aside." Director Vance had made certain that his hand chosen medical team was skilled to serve all of LaSalle's needs, should any complication arise during transport, making the M.E.'s point mute.

"Loretta," Pride said gently ordering his old friend to stand down.

Begrudgingly, Loretta moved out of the way.

"Wait," in a last ditch effort, Brody stepped forward aligning herself with Granger. "When do we get LaSalle back?"

Granger thought for a moment. "When Fod is no longer a threat."

Brody felt her face harden. "So basically, you're going to hold him hostage until we take out Fod for you?"

"Think what you want, Agent Brody." Granger returned waving to his medical team. "Let's move."

As the team began to move down the hallway for the elevator that would take them to the helipad Brody, Pride and Lorreta followed at a brisk pace. Brody at a little quicker pace that the other two. She wanted to stay as close to Chris as possible. They had tucked him in a gray scratchy blanket that went up to his neck and strapped him in long black restraints that went across his torso and stomach. Approaching the elevator, Brody thought she noticed a pinched expression appear between his eyebrows.

"Stop!" she grabbed a hold of the side of the gurney and leaned over, examining his face. His brow was definitely furrowing. "Chris, can you hear me?"

Granger stepped back to her flank, grabbing a hold of her arm. "What do you think you are doing?" he was about to reprimand her when from out a nowhere a bullet struck him in the shoulder. Two gunmen stood at either corner at the elevator. They were trapped.

"Gun!" Pride shouted, pushing Loretta out of the way, "get down!" He pulled out Charmaine and began to return fire as bullets riddled the corridor. Pulling her own weapon, Brody's first thought was to protect, Chris and Granger.

"Stay with LaSalle!" she told Granger as she circled around the gurney and joined the gunfight. When it was over, two members of the medical team had been wounded and one of the gunmen. The other had managed to escape by using hospital personnel as human shields.

"Both of the helicopter pilots are dead," Percy reported as she came onto the scene. "There's evidence of a sniper on the roof across the street."

"Fod knew what Granger was planning," Brody said angrily as she went back to check on Chris. Thankfully, he was unscathed but unfortunately this supported Granger's theory that LaSalle was in danger. The Director was right to want him moved. Gazing at his face, she noticed it was placid again, lacking affect. Had his brow really furrowed or was it just something she had wanted to see because she wanted desperately for him to recover.

One thing was certain however he couldn't stay here.

"How's Granger?" Pride asked holding his bicep where he'd been winged in the shootout."

"He'll live," Brody returned averting her eyes to the nurse who was tending to the arrogant assistant director. "But what about you?"

"It's just a scratch." Pride answered with a wince as he pulled his hand away from his arm. "And Christopher?"

"He's fine," Brody said before she decided to back pedal. "Well, as fine as he can be." She would keep the furrowed facial expression to herself and let time dictate whether or not she had been right. For now, she would be content that he was out of harm's way.

"You know Fod is not going to stop until one of you or both of you are dead."

"I know." Brody replied, "And next time, I'll be ready for him."

"But Christopher…" Pride had to look away. "We can't protect him and take out Fod too."

"I know that." Brody swallowed the lump in her throat. "That's why we need to get him as far away from New Orleans as possible."

Pride gave her a pained smile and a nod. "Thank you for not fighting me on this." He didn't necessarily agree with Granger but Pride wasn't about to give up his surrogate son without a fight and to do that he needed Chris to stay safe.

Brody looked down at her feet, as Pride started to walk back over towards Loretta. Closing her eyes, she let out a resigned sigh before calling out her boss. "I love him, Pride and I won't lose him."

Pride looked back over his shoulder with a smile. "That makes two of us."

* * *

Brody crinkled her nose as she entered the convalescent center in Livingston Louisiana. It had that old sick person smell, and by the looks of things, she was certain that some of the employees were wards of the local prison system. It wasn't much to look at and it definitely wasn't any place she ever wanted to end up. But it would do for a night or two. More importantly, it was a safe place to hide Chris until they were able to take him to more permanent location.

Brody climbed up into the bed and stretched out alongside her partner's still form. Mindful of his injuries, she gently moved his arm so that she could rest her head on his shoulder before she slid her arm across his broad chest and gave him a squeeze, causing a his brow to crinkle slightly. She hadn't noticed the pinched expression had come back until she touched him. Over the last week, she had done a lot of research on coma patients and knew it was best not to get her hopes up too high. Coma patients were at times able to open their eyes and make involuntary movements without it leading to recovery.

"You don't like the way this place smells either, huh?" she teased tracing his rugged jaw line hoping to see a glimmer of his trademark smile.

She slid her hand downward and gently pinched the tender skin on his neck watching his lip and nose twitch. He really was starting to respond pain stimuli.

Tears started to gather on her lashes as she reached across his chest and gave his hand a good squeeze. "C'mon, Chris, show me that you're still in there." For several seconds she watched him expectantly until she realized he'd given her all he could for the moment. Releasing his hand, she began to gently caress his cheek.

"I'll let you off the hook this time, Bama Boy but I need you to give me something to hold on to," she whispered with a sweet smile before she kissed him goodnight and consented to drifting off against his warm muscular form while Pride stood watch outside.


	4. While You Were Sleeping

**A/N: Thank you again, to my guest reviewers and to those who added this story on your alert: D. Hudson, Yammy 1983, and tigerlillies-and-superheroes. You are so appreciated. Whatshername! So glad to hear from you again! Thank you so much for the kind review.**

 **Chapter 4: While You Were Sleeping**

 **2 Days Later off the Florida Coast**

Brody watched as two medics transferred her partner into the bed where he would stay until it was safe for him to come home. Crossing the room, she moved over to him, noting the pronounced pinch between his eyebrows. Gently, she reached over and rubbed his forehead hoping to get him to relax. She was glad he was starting to respond with facial expressions but more and more it seemed that he was wearing a pronounced scowl and that bothered her.

* * *

Chris LaSalle was familiar with the term limbo but he never thought he would be living in it. Bright flashes of light, reoccurring flashbacks, voices he couldn't respond to and pain. He could hear almost everything as clear as day he just couldn't do anything about it. It was like having one of those dreams where you knew you had to wake up but were trapped until you finally woke up with a start.

For whatever reason, Brody's voice came through the strongest. Not that this surprised him really. It was just different, like he'd become extremely sensitive to it. It was almost as if he could feel her fear coursing through him. He tried calling out to her a couple of times but it was as if his vocal cords and muscles had been paralyzed. Every time he tried he was thrown back into the alleyway with a knife being plunged into his back, ripping him to shreds as Brody screamed. It was almost like he trapped in some kind of horror movie. Nightmare on Bourbon Street.

Oddly enough, he was thankful for the pain. It reminded him that he was still alive if you could call this being alive.

The worst part of it all was he could feel himself teetering on the surface of reality and then wham he'd be sinking again.

He didn't know that the times he was sinking coincided with Brody leaving the room and that when she returned that his EEG waves seemed to pick up. They were especially strong when she was holding his hand or caressing his cheek.

At least that's what Dr. Kalliope Miller, head of the neurological department at Naval Hospital Pensacola told Brody. Kalliope was a friend of Loretta's from medical school and an expert in her field. Loretta had sought her out specifically for the purpose of treating Chris.

"He responds especially well to you." Kalliope told Brody. Unlike many patients, Chris' coma wasn't caused by a head injury. It was the result of his body being faced with too much trauma. He was on the edge of death and needed to retreat in order for his body to use all of its resources to heal.

Kalliope reminded Pride of a blond Abby Sciuto only a little older complete with pigtails and her own style of tattoos. "Heal his body and you'll heal his spirit," meaning that he would come back to them if the physical injuries didn't get him first. Chris' pulmonary issues were taken care of and he was breathing fine on his own. The massive internal bleeding had stopped. All that remained was the damage to his liver and his left kidney. His overall physical condition was now listed as guarded meaning things could still go either way.

"But it's been 7 days." Brody hated to sound like she was whining but every day was becoming like a new type of torture. She couldn't stand not knowing if he was going to pull through or not.

Worst of all she couldn't bear the thought of leaving him in some strange place while she returned home to begin her hunt for Fod. Pride had volunteered to stay behind however that brought her little comfort. Once she left she couldn't take the risk of coming back until Fod and all of his people had been eliminated.

"Why don't you both try to get some rest?" Kalliope suggested noting how exhausted both agents looked.

Brody glanced at Pride. She wasn't quite ready to leave LaSalle alone with this woman yet.

"Go on," he told her. "I'll stay here with Chris until you get back."

* * *

Brody found her room at the Navy Lodge to be more than accommodating. As a favor to Loretta, Kalliope had arranged for the agent to have a suite. Entering the bathroom, Brody quickly noticed the whirlpool bathtub. She strolled over to the edge and immediately picked up the container of bubble bath sitting in a neatly decorated wicker basket.

 _Chris placed his hands on either side of her face hoping to quell the fear that was threatening to ruin their moment. "Bubble bath?" He kissed her softly. "I promise. I'll be with you the whole time." He would love her so much that she would forget everything she feared._

 _Brody raised an eyebrow before she consented to return the peck. The idea of a bubble bath was a little more tolerable but she still feared she wouldn't be able to get through it. "Kiss me some more and I'll think about it." She said huskily wrapping her arms around his neck. If nothing else, she would sway him away from anything that had to do with water._

 _For several moments they kissed until Brody felt an ominous presence surround them. Opening one eye, she saw one of Fod's minions, standing behind LaSalle yielding a knife._

 _"CHRIS!" she yelled, breaking out of the kiss._

Startled by the memory, she dropped the container on the floor and watched the soapy contents ooze out onto the white ceramic tile.

After cleaning it up, she retreated to the bedroom where she reluctantly wrestled with herself over taking a sleeping pill that Loretta had prescribed. In the end, the need for sleep won out and she consented to take the sleep aid.

She hadn't been asleep along she found herself trapped in a dream.

* * *

 _She was standing on the pier at the edge of the Mississippi River dressed in black bikini top and a pair of Daisy Duke cut offs._

 _"Ya made it!"_

 _Chris? He was alive and whole wearing his favorite black t-shirt and a pair of navy blue swim trunks and flip flops._

 _"What are we doing here?"_

 _He leaned in for quick kiss, making her heart catch. "We're going skinny dipping remember?" he quipped, placing his hands on her hips._

 _"_ _I can't," Brody hedged looking at the dark ominous water, as Chris walked his fingers across her cheek._

 _"_ _Don't look at the water. Look at me." He told her before he raked his t-shirt over his head._

 _Brody stared at him with palpable fear in her eyes, but consented with a nod as their mouths melted together, kissing until she relaxed._

 _"_ _I'm just kiddin,' " Chris teased, pressing his forehead to hers when the kiss broke. "I know ya ain't ready. But I do need ya to do something for me."_

 _"_ _What's that?" she asked lifting her dark irises to his intense blue ones._

 _Chris smiled, sadly as he cupped her chin. "Leave. It's time for you to go."_

 _Leave? What was he saying? Her eyes started to bead back as forth, with her heart pumping wildly._

 _"_ _I-I can't." she choked, "I need you to come with me."_

 _I have to stay here," He said in time with a large clap of thunder. Picking up his t-shirt, he pulled it back over his head._

 _"_ _Ya need ta go home, Michigan." he said, sweeping a kiss to her pale lips. "There are people countin' on ya."_

 _"_ _No! I won't leave you," she sobbed barreling into him, the force propelling both of them into the water._

 _Brody hit the dark water hard, feeling like she had just smashed through a wall of concrete. When she surfaced, she was alone._

 _"_ _Chris!" She screamed her arms flailing as the water started to consume her. She was drowning. "Chris!" she gulped taking in water as she started to descend downward._

* * *

She was still screaming his name when she woke up with a start covered in sweat, her heart pounding furiously. Seeing the container of bubble bath must had subconsciously triggered her fear of water. Gazing at the clock, she noticed she had slept nearly nine hours.

Pulling to her feet, she ran her hands down her dark pant suit trying to smooth the wrinkles and then went to wash her face before making a beeline for the door. She needed to get to back to Chris. She feared her nightmare had been some sort of cryptic message and she was right.

Pride was waiting for her when she arrived back at the hospital.

"Pride? What's happening?" she swallowed, noting the mournful look in his eyes.

Pride grabbed her by the shoulders, as she started to shake. "Ya, can't go in there right now." Automatically, Brody started to struggle against his grip.

"I need to see him," she said as a sob ripped from the back of her throat. From the small window in the door, she could see that something was happening. Alarms were going off and there were at least a dozen people gathered around her fallen partner.

"You can't."

"Pride Please!" she wailed, on the verge of an anxiety attack.

"Not now!" he insisted, pushing her into a small alcove outside of the corridor. "Not this way."

Was Pride ordering her to keep it together? Because if LaSalle had just died after putting her through 7 days of hell there was no way she could fathom trying to keep it together, not after everything they had been through. Nope, absolutely not happening. She would sit here screaming her head off until her throat went raw.

Brody felt like she was hyperventilating as she started to take in large gulps of air.

Pride again, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, "Calm down. We don't know all the facts yet." He continued to hold her until she stopped shaking.

"I'm fine," she lied, calming her breathing as a nurse approached them.

"Agents, Dr. Miller would like to speak with you."

"Is he dead?" Brody blurted out not even realizing she had verbalized her thoughts until she saw the startled look on the woman's face.

The nurse just stared at her.

"Answer the question!" Brody shot back in interrogator mode, earning a stern look from Pride.

"My apologies," he said softly as the woman turned on one heel and started back down the hall.

When the woman was out of sight, Pride latched on the Brody's arm and whirled her around. "What in the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Brody repeated in disbelief to the point where she almost laughed in hysteria. She was about to comeback with a curt retort when Kalliope appeared.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but I had to make sure Christopher was stabilized before I could talk to you."

Stabilized? Brody's eyes widened with concerned. "What happened?"

Kalliope pulled her lips into a tight thin smile, "He had a minor cardiac incident."

"A heart attack?" Pride questioned.

"No. There was an influx in his heart rate which why the monitors went off. All it means is that his heart rate had a sudden increase. It is possible he was having a dream or maybe it's his body's way of trying to return his heart rate to normal." Typically, coma patients tend to have a slower heart rate than normal due to the bodies need to suppress everything. "Everything is fine. He's just trying to find his way back to you."

Several hours later, Brody sat at his bedside reflecting on her dream. She wasn't one to put much into them but this one bothered her. Chris had asked her to leave. Leaning over she touched his cheek, knowing his face would twitch. "I don't care what you say I'm not leaving you." she whispered, as a small inaudible sound erupted from deep inside his throat, his head turning toward the sound of her voice.

A smile spread across her face as she watched him blink. Welcome back from limbo, Christopher LaSalle.

 **A/N: A happy, sappy, reunion is coming up in the next chapter! FYI, I know Brody's dream was a bit cheesy but isn't that the way they always are on TV?**


	5. Hold My Hand

**A/N : I am touched by the number of reviews for the last chapter. I thought you all would be tired of me by now but as I was telling ** **Suzotchka1 I can't resist angst with a good hospital scene. Not sure why that is but angst is just fits my writing style. Perhaps, I'll try my hand at a good ol' fashioned romance someday. ;) Wait a minute...I do believe this chapter has some that!**

 **Savannah: I debated having Brody leave before our boy woke up, but then decided that it would take away from the "Cherriness" of the story. As always thank you for your kind words. I always look forward to them.**

 **Whatshername: The Fod chapters are coming up soon and we will get a chance to see some Brody/Percy "badassery" because I can't send our girl in totally alone. ;) Again, so good to hear from you again.**

 **Lastly, I want to thank Beatrixacs for her amazing writing style. She has inspired me to stretch myself in the descriptive writing department and her stories are amazing!**

 **Chapter 5: Hold My Hand**

Chris blinked a few more times against the bright fluorescent overhead light. Was this real? It was hard to tell. His mind still felt like it was stuffed with cotton and the pain radiating up from his back was quickly becoming evident.

What he and Brody didn't know was that Kalliope had pulled the biggest pain response test of all. She'd decreased his pain meds, almost down to nothing to see if she could get a bigger rise out of the agent and it had worked. Though it wasn't the most ethical of practices it had proven effective.

"Brody?" he breathed in a soft, raspy, voice. The last fluid memory he had of her was in alleyway pressed up against him as he tried to shield her from their attacker. The rest was nothing but weird flashes of what could have been dreams or maybe delusional fantasies, he wouldn't tell which.

"I'm here," she choked, pressing his hand between her own before drawing it to her lips. All she wanted to do was look at those gorgeous blue eyes. In fact, if she had her way about it, he was never going to close them again. She knew she should press the call button and call for Kalliope but after seven days of not being able to see those beautiful irises or hear that deep pronounced southern accent, she wanted a few minutes with him to herself. It was selfish and it probably wasn't fair to Chris as she sensed he was probably still lost in a world of confusion and pain.

Naturally, he needed some time to gather his bearings but she couldn't hide the idea that she absolutely wanted to devour him. She found it difficult not to hit him with a barrage of questions and mother hen him to death. She wanted to tell him the little things that had learned over the past seven days, like how many times she had counted the rise and fall of his chest within a minute or how at times she would lay her head down just hear the sound of his beating heart.

She watched him looking up at her and her heart turned over. He nearly died for her she thought pushing the unwanted images from her mind. For the first time in seven days she thinks about the wounds on his back and wonders how badly they will scar. Biting her lip, she knows they will always be a constant reminder of everything he's done for her. As soon as she's able she's going to take him home and love him until he's whole. She'll kiss every inch of his wounded back until all of the scars are gone.

She will never forgive herself for allowing him to be caught up in the ruthless violence of her captor. An image of Fod appears in her mind and she can feel the intense and obsessive anger building in her chest. She would die before she allows that monster to ever hurt anyone that she loves again.

For the moment, she is content holding his hand. The best part of all is that he is holding hers back. She can feel the pulse from his thumb as it beats into her palm and she's elated that he has come back to her. But she can tell that he's already worn out and isn't capable of much more at the moment so she waits. Clearly, the trauma is still winning as he turns his head from her and begins to engage in what she perceives to be a pensive thought.

When she can no longer avoid it she presses the call button and waits for the team of personnel who will begin a series of cognitive tests to see if he's all there. She leans forward and kisses his forehead bringing his attention back to her. Smiling, she presses a peck to his dry lips and runs her fingers through the hair on the back of his head as Kalliope appears.

"Ah, Agent LaSalle so glad you could join us!"

Chris gives Brody a pleading look as she starts to pull away. Her heart swells. She can feel the resistance in his hand as he tries to keep her close. His pull is just as strong as she remembers it. She knows she should step out of the way but she can't resist leaning in into to kiss him again.

"I love ya, too." He breathed into her lips. He watched her face as she realized that at some point he heard her pouring her heart out when he was laying half dead in that alleyway. She looks like she's going to cry, but he knows she won't. Not with the doctor standing there anyways. Being the private person that she is she'll wait until she's alone. Someday, he might tell her that it was sound of her voice that kept him alive, but for today, he knows that she's content with the fact that he has come back to the land of the living.

"You can have him back in a minute," Kalliope said with an expectant look. She hated breaking up happy reunions, but her patient's health needed to come first. While everything looked like it was on the up and up for the newly awakened agent she needed to be sure. Just because LaSalle was awake it didn't necessarily mean that he and Brody were going to get a happily ever after.

* * *

Brody stood back as Kalliope examined Chris using a rating scale which assessed his ability to respond to several different things. Cognitively, he seemed to be all there with the exception of a few minor details that surrounded the night of the attack. But over all, his verbal responses were good. She also checked to see that his eyes would respond appropriately to light. Another plus. Lastly, she assessed his fine motor skills with a variety of simple tests such as picking up a pencil and a cup. She would let a physical therapist do the rest later, but for now she was satisfied.

Although, it didn't seem like much LaSalle was wrung out by the time they had finished so again, Brody had to wait. Pulling up a chair to side of the bed, she took a hold of his hand as his eyelids started to droop. "Just so you know, I'm going to be poking you every five minutes," she teased trying to hide the fact that she was absolutely terrified of the thought that he wouldn't wake up. She clearly recalled one of the nurses in Louisiana saying that sometimes coma patients became completely lucid right before they died.

Chris winked and gave her hand a squeeze as he tried to fight the overwhelming exhaustion. He felt like such as wuss. He'd been awake for what fifteen minutes and already he was letting the darkness win again? "How's King?" he yawned. He remembered hearing the sound of gunshots in the hospital followed by the sound of Pride's voice and was worried about the older agent. Like Brody he knew that his injuries were hard on his surrogate father.

Brody pacified his fears with a simple answer. She would save the fact that Pride had been removed as the agent in charge for later as well as the fact that she and Chris had been caught on video tape. She knew that once Chris started asking more detailed questions that she would have a problem keeping him here. He would want to be in the middle of things, trying to make amends. She knew him well. He would go so far to put himself back into the action before he was ready so for the moment she would need to wait for his physical injuries to heal some more before trying to go after Fod.

True to her word, she gently nudged him every five to ten minutes just make sure that she wasn't dreaming again. When she could no longer stand it, she leaned in and kissed him delicately brushing her soft lips over his until she became more brazen with a slip of the tongue. At first, he could only respond with a sleepy smile but as his senses begin to arise he became more aware of her presence and was able to give her something close to what she wanted. As he becomes more alert his hand snakes around the back of her neck and eventually he is returning her kiss in full.

For a moment, Brody wonders if this isn't too much for him as she shifts, wishing the bed railing wasn't between them. She has to keep reminding herself that he is still seriously injured and that they are in the hospital. As selfish as it sounds, she wants him so badly she can hardly stand it. She knows she is going to have a hard time waiting however many months it takes him to recover.

It isn't until a nurse comes in that Brody is jolted with a nightmarish memory that pulls them apart. The presence of the nurse reminds her of that ominous feeling she felt right before Chris was stabbed. Her hearts begins to beat furiously in her chest. She is looking at him at wild eyed, hoping he doesn't feel the same thing.

"I didn't mean to startle to you," the woman apologized. "I just need to draw some blood."

"You didn't," Brody recovered shrugging it off.

But LaSalle knows differently. Even in his banged up condition he can tell that she is shaken.

"I need ya to hold my hand." He said, tangling their fingers as the nurse begins to adjust the IV port in the back of his opposite hand so that she can attach the vial and draw out the dark crimson substance.

Brody gives him a slight smile and drops her eyes to the floor. He's read right through her and that makes her feel weak. It reminds her of the dark days following her kidnapping, when she depended on him for even the littlest of things. She kicks her mentally. It's her turn to protect him.

He waits for the nurse to leave before trying to get inside her head. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she attempts a surprised _that you would ask_ look but again he sees through it and calls her bluff.

He gives her hand a squeeze. "We were both there you know…"

"Chris, I-"

"Watched me get stabbed repeatedly," he finishes watching her scowl. He knows that in reality, even though he was the one critically injured, that he is the lucky one, emotionally speaking. Even though he is missing some of the pieces he knows about the hell she went through with the watching and waiting.

He doesn't yet know about the three surgeries and that he coded twice right in front of her. He didn't feel her heartbreak when the doctors said he probably wouldn't survive. Nor does he know about the night she went to the chapel and cried her eyes before God. But he knows that she is still hurting.

She looks at him not knowing what to say. She doesn't want to talk about this now. All she wants to do is forget about the rest of the world so she can get lost in those gorgeous blue orbs she has missed so much. She wants to celebrate that he's alive and that they are getting a second chance.

"I should go. You need your rest." Her words come out as part of a disappointed sigh. She was happy before the inevitable was brought up and now she's afraid if she stays she'll end up crumbling into little itty bitty pieces and she doesn't want to put him through that. He's done enough for her and though she wants to crawl into his arms and cry like a frightened little girl she can't.

"Like hell," he tugs on her hand, reeling her back as she tries to move away. As exhausted as he is, he is bound and determined not to let her leave. "Don't make me throw you over my shoulder again." He teases recalling the night at the piano bar when he duped her at playing a game of pool.

Brody's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You really think you're up for that?"

"There's only one way to find out." He shrugged, watching her smile. He knows for the moment, he has won her over with his charm and is pleased with the fact that he is able to pull out his _A game_ when needed. He begins to draw circles on the inside of her palm as the tension starts to leave her body and her expressions return to normal, save for the raised eyebrow.

"If you try to get out this bed, I will have you restrained." she tosses out for good measure causing his trademark grin to appear.

"I have missed that smile so much," she whispers pulling her hand free so that she can touch the side of his rugged face, prompting him to kiss her palm as it moves along his cheek.

Brody is right where she is supposed to be and he'll be damned if he's going to let her go. They still have a lot of making up to do over the whole keeping a secret from her ordeal.

There's another question burning in the back of his mind but he'll save it for Pride. He never saw his attacker, but he knows it was Fod. Even though no one has said anything he knows they aren't in Louisiana. Pride would only move him if he thought the threat was too large for him to handle, which was a rare occurrence. The question was what was being done about it? He doesn't knows the answer but he isn't going to let it include Brody. Fod had hurt her too much already.

* * *

When nightfall comes and its lights out, Brody ponders the idea of climbing into bed next to him. She really shouldn't, given this is a naval facility and that she and Chris have already been caught in the act of fraternizing once. But she can't resist. She just wants to be close him and feel his body heat meshing with her own.

Chris is already asleep so she knows she has to be extra careful not to jostle him. For a moment she is afraid of hurting him so she takes her time getting into the bed. Slowly, she turns on her side so that she is barely spooned up against his torso and abdomen. She is afraid to move until she feels his arm drape over her, pulling her closer, just like he does when they're at home. Smiling, she tangles their fingers before drawing his knuckles to her lips.

The worst part is over, she sighs keeping a tight hold on his hand.


	6. Under Siege

**A/N: Thank you to the guest reviewers. Savannah: I like the idea that Chris could hear Brody when he was in the coma, so it seemed only natural that his first words would be I love you too ;) Whatshername: So glad that the last chapter made you grinning. I too, love the sweetness between our two heroes. Guest: Yes, Chris is on the mend, but isn't quite out of the woods yet.**

 **Chapter 6: Under Siege**

Brody decided to forfeit sleep. Now that Chris was free from the coma, she couldn't take the chance that her nightly ritual of screaming like a mad woman would wake him. For whatever reason, the vision of him lying half dead and bleeding out in her arms was a thousand times stronger that any torture she had received at Fod's hands. She couldn't help but wonder how long this particular round of night terrors would last. That was the funny thing about PTSD it never truly went away. It would be just her luck that even if she did manage to bring Fod down that he would be forever forged into her dreams.

It was bad enough that when she was kissing Chris earlier she kept envisioning Fod's hit man standing behind them with his knife. When was this ever going to end? She so wants to be like the fictional Olivia Pope and fly off some place warm and tropical so that she can stand in the sun with her masterpiece of a man. Carefree, free from danger and living in bliss, but even Olivia's paradise was short lived she reminds herself.

She hears Chris make a pained noise in his sleep and gently awakens him. "Chris, are you hurting?"

"Back," he manages to whimper without opening his eyes.

Brody knows that Kalliope had begun to wean him off of the oxycodone to assist in his awakening, but now wonders if the quirky physician didn't pull back too much. Sliding off of the bed, she presses the call button and puts the rail back up before the nurse appears.

"Can I see your ID please?" Brody asks prompting the woman to give her a tight smile. Brody hates having to question the hospital personnel, especially the ones in uniform, but Fod's people could be everywhere. She hates to think that she's becoming paranoid, but deep down she knows Fod will come after them again. It was just a matter of time.

By the time the nurse is finished probing her partner and adjusting his medication line, Chris is wide wake.

Brody gazes into his sickly looking eyes and can see that his pain is larger than life. She knows he won't say anything. Chris LaSalle is one of those types who prefer to live by a code. He never complains about anything including his own well-being.

Chris looks toward the window and exhales. He hasn't told Brody that the couple of times that they've had him out of bed and up on his feet that he has nearly fallen flat on his ass because the pain has become so intense. Kalliope mentioned something about the possibility of eventually needing to remove his damaged kidney if pain continued.

"You want me to get you some Sprite or a Popsicle maybe?" she hedges softly.

LaSalle's eyes narrow. _Pfft…_ The only thing he wants is to be back on his feet so that they can get the hell out of here and go after Fod.

"C'mon, I bet they have cherry." she teases, knowing that technically he hasn't eaten since the night he was stabbed. Not that a Popsicle constituted food, but it was better than the lukewarm chicken broth they'd tried to serve him earlier. He'd consented to taking about two swallows and that was it.

He rolls his eyes but is unable to hold back a grin. "Orange."

"Orange," She manages a smile of her own as she heads down the hall to the pantry where the nurses store coffee and a fully stocked refrigerator. Digging into the freezer, she starts to rifle through the box of popsicles until she finds orange.

"Leave it to LaSalle to want the one that is on the very bottom of the box." She groans in time with the buzz of the burner phone attached to her hip. She and Pride had agreed to leave their personal cell phones behind so that they couldn't be traced.

"Hello?" she answers carefully even though Pride is only one who has the number.

"Hello, Agent Brody."

Fod.

Brody feels her heart plummet, if he is calling her then something has happened to Pride and if Fod can get to Pride he can also get to Chris. Dropping the phone, Brody takes off in a dead run back down the hallway, screaming out an alert. Armed MP's follow her as she rushes into Chris' room.

The bed is empty.

"Where is Agent LaSalle?" she says in labored, panic filled breaths.

The nurse who treated Chris only moments earlier looks at the female agent as if she has lost her mind. "Transport, just picked him up. He's on his way to radiology for an MRI."

Still breathing hard, Brody begins to bark orders. "Go to room 602 at the Navy Lodge, check on Agent Pride!" she then tugs on the sleeve of the remaining MP. "You, call whoever you have to and get someone to radiology right now! Then follow me!"

The MP nods as Brody heads for the stairs. The only way Fod can get Chris out of the hospital is to take the elevator to the bottom floor. Double timing it, she takes the steps two at a time, praying she doesn't lose her balance. She has to beat the elevator. Weapon trained, she reaches the elevator just as it dings. Bystanders are looking at her like she is some sort of psychopath.

"Federal Agent! Everybody stand back!"

Her heart is slamming wildly in her chest as the doors open to reveal an empty elevator car. Anxiously, she waits for the second car to arrive. Same thing no Chris.

Lowering her weapon, she steps inside and hits the button that will take her to the radiology floor. By the time she arrives, perspiration is starting to glisten on her face. She has a cramp in her side from all of that running.

"Where is agent LaSalle?" Her voice is so clouded with anxiety that she can hardly speak.

"He's right there." A navy corpsman points to her left and watches as she exhales in relief.

Chris is fine.

Sidestepping the corpsman, Brody flings her arms around his neck.

LaSalle winces slightly at her forceful touch, "What's going on?"

"Fod, he, called me," she swallows. "I think he may have Pride."

She can't help but notice Chris' face pale and wonders if hers is doing the same. If Fod has Pride, they both know what that will mean. He will use Pride to make the example he failed to make with Chris. Fod will torture him slowly and then kill him, leaving them some sort of horrific video for them to watch.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Brody is donning her Kevlar. She's just come back from the Navy lodge where she and the team of MPs found Pride's room in shambles. Immediately, she puts in a call to Percy who will be in Pensacola in a couple of hours along with that idiot, Granger.

Brody dreads telling LaSalle that she and Sonja will go after Fod alone because she knows how he'll react. Pride means everything to him.

By now the extra dose of Oxycodone has kicked in and he's feeling especially cocky. Brody has almost had to physically restrain him to get him to stay in bed.

"This is King!" he argues fighting against his battered body.

"And we have every federal agent, and MP available." Brody wants to say something reassuring like _we'll get him back_ but she knows she can't promise that. Fod is not your everyday average terrorist. He is a monster, perhaps the worst they've ever faced. She shudders to think what will happen to Chris if they don't get Pride back.

LaSalle rears up too quickly forcing her press his shoulders back down to the bed. She can see that despite the drugs his injuries are quickly getting the best of him. "I won't risk losing you again." She says a little more forcibly than she has to but she knows Chris. If given the opportunity, he will not hesitate to join in the fight.

His eyes intense, and anger filled are only masking the fear that he feels. He's at risk of losing his entire family unable to do a damn thing about it. He knows that Fod can easily kill Brody and Percy without so much as blinking an eye and that he was just lucky to have saved Brody the first time.

"Just give me something to come back to." She pleads hoping that eventually common sense will kick in and she won't have to end up having to restrain him but she will if it comes to that. She knows that as soon as Granger gets here there's a big possibility that Chris will moved again and that she won't be able to see or talk to him until this over.

For the first time in his life he knows he can't play the part of the hero and it's killing him. But Brody's right. At the moment, he's just a liability. So, he does the only thing he can and concedes. Nodding, he turns his head away from her and hears the whoosh of her breath as she sighs in relief.

A huge weight has just been lifted from her shoulders. She is just about to kiss him when the voice of a uniformed Marine calls out to her.

"Ma'am, we're ready to pull out when you are."

"Thank you," Brody briefly glances at the man before giving LaSalle a quick kiss. "I mean it. Stay put."

Chris snakes his hand behind her neck, holding her to him. "Then don't give me a reason to come after you."

* * *

From the sanctuary of his safe house, Fod sits at his desk staring up at the white board that his people have mapped out for him. They have created a carefully thought out plan to destroy those responsible for taking his wife in particular, Meredith Brody.

So far everything has gone accordingly with the exception that LaSalle managed to survive the hit. Not that is matters really; he still had the satisfaction of watching Brody shatter into pieces. He'll wait until she's comfortable, feeling like she has the upper hand, and then when she least expects it, he'll go after LaSalle again and this time he will not fail.


	7. Fod 2, Brody 0

**A/N: Thank you to lhbmac and Jessica Faith for adding this story to their alerts and to my guest reviewers. Whatshername: No cliffy this time, although I debated it. As for the PTSD, it will be an ongoing for Brody and possibly LaSalle, although he'll handle his in a much different way. Guest: Nope, nothing too horribly wrong with LaSalle at the moment. ;).**

 **Fod 2 Brody 0**

Percy met Brody at the base command center with Granger in tow. "How's LaSalle?"

"Awake, but definitely not happy." Brody preferred to keep her eyes on the video footage from the Navy Lodge for any sign of Fod, rather than looking at Granger.

Percy scanned the room exhaling. "Can't say that I blame him, but just so you know Agent L.A. here, assigned him a bodyguard," a trained field agent who had experience in dealing with terrorists.

Brody shifted her eyes as Granger moved to speak with the officer in charge. She supposed that should have made her feel better that he had given LaSalle some protection but it didn't. Anything could still happen to Chris. But for the moment, she just had to pray that he would stay safe until she was able to get a handle on what had happened to Pride.

"There!" she pointed to the computer screen. Two of Fod's minions were seen entering Pride's room. Zooming in on their faces she captured their images and sent it them to be processed. After the screen captures were uploaded she resumed play of the video feed and noted that a few minutes later, the two could be seen carrying a limp looking Pride between them.

Brody touched the computer tech on the shoulder. "Back it up. I want to see if we can get a shot of the car they drove up in."

Bingo. A black sedan with a clear view of the license plate. A quick check with the DMV revealed that the car belonged to a rental company and that the car had been contracted through cooperation: Ezekiel Brothers Shipping and Storage.

Percy's face twisted. "A moving company?"

Brody looked at her. It was the perfect operation for moving contraband, not to mention people.

"Let's move."

* * *

Chris was talking to Patton on a cell phone he had conned from one of the nurses when the agent assigned to protect him appeared in the doorjamb. "Agent LaSalle," she knocked softly.

"Hang on, Pat," Chris looked at the woman. She was tall and thin, all of a size 2 in skinny jeans and a button up shirt, "Can I help ya?"

"I'm your protection detail," she returned flashing her badge. "Can you get off your cell phone, please?"

"It's not my phone." Chris glared at her before turning his attention back to Patton. He might not be able to be with Brody and Percy on the search for Pride but he would damn if he was just going sit here wallowing in pain.

"Great," the female agent groaned as she moved from the doorway, ripped the phone from his hand and dropped a duffle bag onto the bed.

"Get dressed, we're leaving."

Chris chewed his lip thoughtfully as she glared him. Some pretty strange things had happened to him over the last week and he needed a moment to contemplate. Brody hadn't said anything about a protective detail, but it did make sense given the situation.

"Can I see that badge again?"

She rolled her eyes, but complied with his request, flashing it just long enough for him to tell that it was real.

"Satisfied?"

Chris let out an involuntary groan as he reached for the bag of clothing. She or whomever had done a pretty good job of judging his size and including a replica of his favorite ball cap. "Uh…this might take me a few minutes…" he hedged.

"Do you need me to help you?" she barked, not realizing how badly injured he was. At the moment he wasn't really even capable of making the five feet to the bathroom without some sort of assistance.

"No, ma'am, "at least he didn't think he needed help but that remained to be seen. One thing was certain; he sure as hell wouldn't be walking out of here.

The agent's dark eyes went wide before she let out an insulted laugh, "Did you just call me ma'am?" She was certain she was younger than he if only by a year or two.

"Yes, ma'am, something wrong with that?"

She sucked in a breath and then scratched her head trying to hold in her obvious frustration. She hadn't met anyone this irritating since… "You do realize that your life is in danger and that your boss has been captured by a terrorist."

"Yes-"

She cut him off before he had the chance to call her ma'am again. "Then let's get a move on before Fod's people decide to show up."

Fifteen minutes later, Chris was dressed and painstakingly headed down the hallway with his so called protective detail.

"Here, let me help you," she said wrapping an arm of support around his waist. People were starting to stare. Getting the agent out of the hospital unnoticed was going to be harder than she anticipated.

Chris let out a hiss as her hand slid across his tender back, she had no idea that she was pulling on newly sewn stitches attached to raw, red, skin. "Sorry, "she apologized. "No one told me that you had been-"

"Stabbed," he finished as they made it to the elevator.

"Maybe we should take the stairs then," she quipped pressing the call button.

LaSalle gave her a deer in the headlights look as the elevator door opened. If nothing else, she had a wicked sense a of humor.

"You from here?" she asked helping him inside.

"Alabama," Chris leaned up against the side wall, feeling like he was about to collapse. "How about you?"

"I was a military brat," she confessed.

The doors were just about to close when a man dressed in a pair of scrubs scooted in at the last second.

Chris looked at his assigned protector noting she had the face of calm.

Slowly, she started to inch closer to LaSalle stepping between him and the man dressed in the scrubs. Looping her arm through Chris' she started to speak to the other man, noting how close his proximity was to there's. "So, do you know of any good places to eat around here? My fiancée and I are here, visiting my aunt. She just had her gallbladder taken out." Incessantly, she continued to ramble like some vapid female who didn't have a clue but in reality she was watching, waiting for him to make a move.

"That's enough bitch," he snarled producing a 9 millimeter.

Releasing LaSalle's arm, she launched herself into the man with the gun, spinning him into the wall "NCIS," she growled, producing her sidearm at his temple.

Chris looked almost dumbfounded as she cuffed the other man. "You okay?" she asked, noting that he looked a little pallid.

"Yeah," he swallowed. "I just didn't get your name."

"Special Agent, Kensi Blye. NCIS, Office of Special Operations," she smiled as she secured the suspect.

* * *

One hour later, she lead him into a monster of a hotel room that doubled as a temporary command center. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable. I'm just going to check in with Granger."

"There's no need," Granger's voice replied as he stepped out of the living area with Pride at his flank.

"King?" Chris looked at his surrogate father in shock as did Kensi. The man looked a little banged up, but overall his appearance was acceptable.

"Christopher, Agent Blye." Pride greeted softly, trying to overcome the ramifications of a drug induced headache.

Chris moved toward Pride. "What happened?"

"Local PD, found him wandering on the side of the road between here and the highway," Granger supplied. "From the looks of things he was drugged and for lack of a better term used as bait."

"Bait?" Chris repeated looking at Kensi.

"If he was the bait-"

Chris swallowed hard. "Then Brody and Percy are walking into a trap. King, we gotta do somethin'! "

Pride gave the younger agent a somber look. He wasn't in charge anymore and as for Chris, well he was in no shape to be traipsing about a strange city searching for Brody and Percy. "Not, we. Them."

Chris opened his mouth and then shut it, pursing his lips. As much as he hated to admit it, he would only last about five minutes out in the field.

Seeing his distress, Kensi gently touched his arm. She wasn't sure why exactly, but she was drawn to her new charge. Maybe it was because she had overheard Granger talking about how he had a more than professional relationship with his partner and was secretly rooting for him and Brody.

* * *

Weapons, trained Brody and Percy moved stealthy through the lot of the moving and storage company until they came to a large warehouse style type of building. The large metal door, had been left slightly ajar inviting them to slip through. In the center of the room, sat a large moving van. The roll up door in the back was wide open. From where they stood they could one armed gunman and what looked like to be a person sitting bound in the back of the truck with a hood over his face.

Nodding to each other, they crouched down and started to move in opposite directions as to surprise the gunman. They continued to move until Brody felt a pull against her foot.

A trip wire.

"Sonja run!" she had barely gotten the words out when the truck exploded. Turning, Brody felt the force of the heat begin to propel her forward. Bits of twisted metal and flaming debris peppered her body as she thrown backwards through a sheet glass window. Her entire body screamed in agony as she hit the gravel outside. For several moments she laid in the dirt, trying to dispel the ringing in her ears.

Pushing to her feet, she hissed from where a large shard of glass had caught her in the thigh. Slowly, made her way over to Percy, wobbling with uncoordinated movements. The younger agent, was lying on her back, her head tilted to one side. Dropping back to her knees, Brody pressed two fingers to Percy's carotid artery, feeling a good strong pulse.

Fod had won this round she sighed as she gathered up the unconscious agent in her arms and waited for help to arrive.

 **A/N: No need to worry, this will not be turning into an episode of NCIS LA**. **Kensi's appearance is a brief one**. **I just needed someone to help LaSalle get out of the hospital, and decided to go with a known character rather than making up an OC. FYI, some Cherriness sweetness coming up in the next chapter!**


	8. Home Sweet Home

**A/N:** **Thank you to my guest reviewers. Whatshername and Savannah: Glad you both are receptive to Kensi and my use of the NCIS LA fandom. Again, they won't be overtaking the story, but there are a few similarities with Kensi that I want to point out before they head back home. Thank you to gsbabydoll78 for adding this story to alert. As promised this chapter contains some Cherri sweetness.**

 **Home Sweet Home**

By the time Kensi and Granger arrived on the scene, they were greeted by the devastation of smoldering flesh and devastation. Several firemen and EMS workers were milling about, tending to what was left of the building.

The paramedics had moved Brody and Percy away from harm and were treating them for injuries in the back of ambulance. At the moment, it appeared that Percy had the most severe injuries of the two with a mild concussion, but currently stable. Her pupils were responsive to light, and she was slowly starting to come around.

"Any sign of Fod?" Granger asked as the EMT began to stitch up the cut in Brody's leg. The junior agent hissed as the paramedic started to pull the long black thread through the fleshy part of her thigh. She was only getting three stitches but it still hurt like a son of bitch.

"No, but it looks like one of his men was killed, along with a security guard who worked for the moving company."

Kensi looked at Granger. "He's playing games."

Brody's brow furrowed as the unfamiliar agent continued to speak. "And you would be…"

"Special Agent, Kensi Blye. I brought her in as protection detail for LaSalle." Granger answered.

"Then why isn't she with him?" Brody challenged caustically. For all Brody knew Fod could be off somewhere slitting Chris' throat as they sat defeated with their tails between their legs.

Kensi gave the older female agent an easy smile. "You can relax. He's with Pride and they're both fine."

Brody's felt her jaw clench. Her boys were her family and currently they were both in a very vulnerable state. She wouldn't trust them to just anyone even if that person where an NCIS agent. "If you don't mind, I'll be the judge of that."

"You're being a little overprotective don't you think," Kensi retorted, sensing that if she pushed hard enough she goad Brody into a cat fight.

"No, that would be me." Percy groaned pushing up on her elbows. "And if anything happens to LaSalle. You're going to personally have to answer to me. "

Kensi pursed her lips as her large brown eyes went wide. Weren't they all supposed to be one the same team? Not that she blamed the NOLA agents for being protective their partner. She would act the same of anyone threatened to take out one of her three boys, especially Deeks.

"I think I'll go check on him right now." She said softly, taking herself out of the equation.

Granger waited until she was out of earshot. "Agent Blye is a skilled sniper and an expert lip reader as well as being fluent in several different languages. Her experience in working with terrorists will be especially useful in working this case."

He watched as Brody and Percy exchanged glances. His intention in bringing Kensi in had more to do with Brody than anything else. Due to their mutual experience in being kidnapped by terrorists, he hoped that Kensi would be able to share some insights with Brody and help her find her way.

"So, what now?" Brody asked as the EMT tied off the stitching and placed a bandage over his handiwork.

"You go home." Granger answered, coming to the realization that they would safer on their own turf than hiding out in unfamiliar territory.

* * *

 **New Orleans**

 **72 hours later…**

Daisy sat on the end of LaSalle's couch, her tail wagging happily over the fact that her humans had returned home.

Brody was asleep stretched out between Chris' thighs, her head resting on his chest. Even though his battered body couldn't bear her weight, he continued to hold her, stroking her hair.

She would give him hell for allowing her to fall asleep on him like that but he didn't care. She'd been through so damn much over the last couple of weeks he couldn't stand the idea of waking her. He liked the idea of holding her again. It made him feel whole. That was until she shifted. He tried to hold back but the pain was too intense manifesting in the form of a pained wheezed.

"Chris?" Brody looked up at him sleepily.

He kissed the top of her head. "Just go back to sleep."

She shifted again and this time he let out a louder noise as a fiery pain ripped through his shoulder blades and lower back. Even though he was on the highest dosage of painkillers that his body could handle, they weren't cutting it. He needed something stronger and was starting to wonder if he wasn't developing some sort of problem to the prescription medication.

"Sorry," she said into his lips. She knew she needed to be mindful of her weight but the idea of actually being able to kiss him without the fear of pulling out any tubes or wires over took her common sense. For the first time in several weeks they were actually alone, save for the patrolman who was stationed outside with agent Blye.

Gently, she flanked the side of his face, dropping soft but purposeful kisses to his rugged lips. "Are you okay with this?" She asked huskily, punctuating her words.

Chris tucked a fallen hair behind her ear. "We wouldn't be doing it, if I wasn't."

Brody grinned largely before claiming his mouth in full. She continued to kiss him until memories of that fateful night in the ally started to assault her.

"We need to stop," she said taking in a huge gulp of air as she tore her lips from his.

How messed up was this that she couldn't even kiss the man she loved without being terrorized by her own thoughts? Fod had literally seeped into her subconscious and refused to leave.

Chris stifled a groan as he sat up beside her and ran a calming hand down her back. He knew she was spooked, but decided not to push. "Ya need anything?"

Brody pulled her lips into a smile, cupping his face. She knew he was still running on a heavy dose of pain killers and adrenaline. "I'm the one supposed to be taking care of you."

Chris looked down at his feet a slight grin crossing his face. "I've got agent Blye for that."

Since they had arrived back home, the LA based agent had not left his side save for these few moments that he'd been able to steal away with Brody. He couldn't even get a moment alone in the bathroom without Kensi standing watch at the door.

"I'm beginning to like her," Brody mused accepting the fact that Kensi would keep her Bama Boy, safe from harm as well as from himself. She could see it in Chris' eyes. Now that he was feeling more like a human being again; he was itching to be a part of the fight. He needed someone to keep him in line when she couldn't be there.

"You check on Percy today?" Chris tossed out.

"I called her this morning." The rookie agent was at home with Sebastian at her side, serving as her self-appointed, nurse maid.

Brody pushed to her feet and strutted over to the pool table.

"You remember the last time we used this?" She started to grin naughtily, piquing LaSalle's interest. Cade's pool table would always be one of his most treasured memories of making love with her however; he wasn't in any shape to be recreating that moment.

"You aren't suggesting, that we-"

"You'd better not be!" Cade hollered as he came through the patio door, watching as the two agents both began to burn with embarrassment.

His quip forgotten, Cade breezed past Brody on his way to Chris. "How ya doin' baby brother?" The last time he had seen his brother the doctors were suggesting permanent long term care and funeral arrangements.

"I'm good." Chris said slowly, torn over the fact that Cade had just spoiled the much needed alone time with Brody.

Brody looked past Cade meeting Chris' eyes. She knew that as much as she wanted to be with Chris he needed time with his brother. "I think I'll go check on agent Blye and see if she needs anything." She turned making a beeline for the courtyard with Daisy trailing behind her.

* * *

Kensi was sitting in one of the patio chairs, face timing her partner when Brody appeared. "I've gotta go," she told the shaggy blonde on the screen.

"Take care Kensilina and don't eat too much gumbo."

Brody watched as a familiar smile slid over the younger agent's face as she ended her call.

"Checking in with your partner?"

"His name is Deeks, and for what it is worth, he is more than just my partner."

"And how do you handle it from a work perspective?" Brody asked curiously, surprised that the agent was being so forward.

"For the most part, Hetty, our agent in charge, has a don't ask, don't tell policy. But all of my co-workers know and sometimes it can be complicated. Luckily, Deeks and I work well together and everyone appreciates that."

"Even Granger?" Brody asked watching Kensi shrug.

"We have our ways of getting around him."

Brody blew out a tense breath. "Chris saved my life and brought me back from the edge." She wasn't quite really to spill her guts to the LA based agent, but she was beginning to feel that she could trust her.

Kensi averted her eyes. "You don't have to open up to me. But I know you how feel; I've been where you are."

Brody raised an eyebrow. Bonding moment aside, the younger agent worked for Granger. "You weren't watching your partner's back and watched him nearly get stabbed to death?"

Kensi blew out a tense breath of her own . Getting through the older woman was proving difficult. So she decided to be blunt. "Two years ago, I was captured by the Taliban and tortured while on assignment in Afghanistan. If it wasn't for my team I wouldn't be here right now. So, I know how much it means to you, to bring down Fod."

"Oh," Brody said resigned, instantly regretting her tone of sarcasm.

"For what it's worth, you don't have to worry. I won't sell you out to Granger. I'm just here to have your back."

Brody was about to reply when Cade poked his head out the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but Chris and I are going next door to grab a pizza. Would you fine ladies like to join us?"

Brody glanced at Kensi, "What do you think, Agent Blye? You up for some New Orleans style pizza with the LaSalle Brothers?"

Kensi pressed her hands to the arms of the wrought iron chair and pushed to her feet, "I'm always up for good junk food, so why not?"

* * *

After Cade had gone, and Kensi had settled herself on the couch for the evening, Brody closed the French doors that separated the bedroom from the living room and drew the curtains.

She moved toward the bed and pulled down the comforter. "All right, mister it's time for you get to get some rest." She said, patting the mattress.

Fresh from the shower, Chris was clad in nothing but a pair of dark colored boxers, giving her, her first glimpse of his injured back. After climbing into bed, she gently ran her fingertips over the surgical staples that had been used to fuse his skin back together. The incisions were much longer and angrier looking than the half inch cut that she received in the explosion.

Tenderly, she kissed the area around his shoulder before wrapping her arm over him. Instantly, she felt his stomach muscles quiver at her touch. Someone was either starting to get excited or he was in pain. Curious, she slid her hand, into the waistband of his boxers, only to have him tangle their fingers and move it away. At 11 days post-op, she could hardly blame him if he wasn't ready or able to commit to being intimate.

"I love you," she whispered into his neck before he turned into her and kissed her for all it was worth, forcing her to swallow the anxiety that was starting to claim her. For the moment, he would hide his pain and she would force down the nightmarish memories that threaten to destroy their intimate part of their relationship.

 **A/N: In the Episode, How Much Pain Can You Take , if you look closely, you will see that LaSalle lives next to a very popular Italian restaurant in the French Quarter, Little Vics. Did anyone else find it strange that Chris' bedroom faces the street and doesn't have any window coverings? It's kind funny when you think back to the opening scene of You'll Do where he and Savannah are rolling around in bed together and he has a couple of lights on. ;)**


	9. Mind Games

**A/N: Big week at work, but here I am! Got to shout out my thank-you to Whatserername: Brody V Fod comin' right up. Savannah: Sigh...love that couch scene.** **Thank you, thank you, to all of the signed reviews. You are marvelous.**

 **Mind Games**

Meredith Brody looked into the mirror and honestly thought she was vanishing from, existence. The nightmares and flashbacks were starting to eat her alive and she didn't understand why. Well, she did, but she preferred not to think about it.

This morning, she had all but taken LaSalle's head off. She'd woken up screaming again and tried to play it off. Needless to say, it had gone badly.

 _"_ _I'm fine, we're fine. Just forget about it."_

 _"_ _I said, just drop it, okay?"_

 _"_ _I told you, I'm fucking fine!"_

She'd actually gone so far as to have swatted his hand away before making a hasty retreat to the shower. The shower, Merri? Really? You can't stand the idea of water running down body. Fod's voice was now in her head, sneering at her, making her second guess her every move. Although it had been three weeks since he'd made a move the anxiety over the next when or where was more than Brody could handle.

Now she stood with the bathroom door locked and the shower water running the background. She heard Chris knock and then jiggle door knob.

"C'mon, Merri let me in."

Palming the sink, she closed her eyes.

Outside, Chris knew that she was terrified, so terrified, that she can hardly breathe. He should leave her alone but something inside of him won't let him. He needed to talk her through the fear that is threatening to claim her.

But she doesn't want him to see her this way: weak and helpless. They've already been down this road and it wasn't pretty.

The steam was so thick that the mirror clouded with condensation. Taking a hand towel, she gently starts to wipe it down until the sound of a window swinging on its hinges against, ceramic tile walls, nearly made her jump out her skin.

LaSalle somehow managed to hoist himself up and swung his legs through the opening, thankful that his bathroom has a standard sized window.

For a moment he just stood there, thinking about how incredibility messed up they both are from all of this. He would never say it aloud but Cade's issues are nothing compared to the two of them right now.

Brody was mad as hell at him for invading her privacy, but on the other hand her hero was back. Despite his own pain he had seen that she was struggling and had chosen to stand by her. How could she be angry at him for that?

"You ready to talk about it?" she was starting to shut him out and he hates that.

She pursed her lips, shaking her head in response.

"I gotta meet King in an hour. You mind if I use some of this hot water before it goes cold?" he asks, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness.

Brody forced a smile at his attempt not to make her feel any more stupid than she already does. "Go right ahead." She said, "That was a nice touch coming through the window by the way."

Chris shrugged before pulling off his shirt. "You know there is room for two of us, if ya want-"

She presents him with a sympathetic smile. For nearly 6 months, her idea of a shower has been get in and out as quickly as you can with allowing as little water as possible to touch her body. She's become quite good at it actually. But on the other hand, she's never actually thought about how she would react with Chris right there.

"Ok," she swallows to his surprise.

Bravely, she takes Chris' hand and follows him in, allowing his body to take the bulk of the spray.

At first she has to stave off the rising panic as her body begins to quiver. Every muscle is trembling. Her breathing increases and tears begin to fall as water bounces off of LaSalle and onto her skin. There is no way she can do this she thought until she feels his strong hands on her face. Her knees want to buckle but she doesn't allow them as he starts to kiss her.

It's been a month since that fateful night and she knows she can't continue to use his injuries as an excuse to pull away. He's almost completely healed save for the crippling pain that continues to rage through the left side of his back. He thinks she doesn't see it but he's wrong. She notices the little things he tries to hide and his constant use of pain medication: prescription, over the counter, whatever he can seem to get his hands on.

Chris feels her literally shaking in his in arms and notices that she is less than into his kiss. His effort to comfort her is an epic fail.

"Just talk to me." He whispered into her ear, as she buries her face into his chest, to avoid the water. It isn't actually the water that bothers her so much anymore. It's him.

"I can't."

* * *

LaSalle stood at the firing range with his weapon trained on the target. After nearly 4 weeks of convalescent leave from a stabbing that had left him comatose he was finally ready to come back.

Or was he?

Weeks and weeks of pain medication and physical therapy had seen him through the worst parts, but there was still that issue of pain on his left side where he taken a blade straight to the kidney. There were still days it hurt like hell and today was no exception. Climbing through the bathroom window definitely had not helped matters.

Pride stood several feet behind him watching as he fired at the target with the bullets repeatedly veering off center. At the moment he couldn't hit the side of a barn.

"You're pulling to the right." He called out as LaSalle removed his ear protection.

"I can see that." LaSalle removed the clip holstered his weapon.

"Just give it some more time," Pride said, clapping the younger agent on the shoulder. "It'll all come back."

"And if it doesn't?"

Pride chuckled softly, "Chris, the older you get the longer it takes for things to heal." Four weeks was a ridiculously short amount of time for the younger agent to be thinking of returning to anything other than desk duty.

LaSalle raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to say I'm getting' old? Because if that's the case then that makes you…"

"I didn't say that." Pride said, bemused. "But you can't rush this. Your body will let you know when it's ready."

Chris rolled his eyes. Pride was starting to sound more like his doctor then a mentor. "The sooner we get Fod, the sooner you come back and things go back to normal." They were all getting tired of Granger's totalitarian rule. The man was over the top with regulations.

Pride averted his glance. "Don't worry about me. Just concentrate on gettin' yourself back in the saddle."

LaSalle touched Pride's arm. "You know I won't go back if you don't." For years it had just been the two of them. They were a team, a packaged deal.

Pride let out a long sigh, as they headed for the door. "You know it's always been the plan that one day it will all be yours." He was speaking of more than the just the office. Pride was referring to his beloved city.

Chris stopped. "King, I can't do your job."

"Yes, you can." The older agent replied as agent Blye appeared, noting the intense looks the two male agents were giving each other.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all, "I was just on my way out to meet Laurel for lunch." Pride smiled, before averting his eyes back to Chris. "Give it a couple of more weeks."

Chris gave a somber nod into the older man's back before glancing up at Kensi.

She smiled brightly at him. "What's on the agenda for today?"

Chris gave her a watered down version of his own. He was getting better and felt he didn't need her protection anymore. "Isn't time you went home?"

"You getting sick of me, LaSalle?"

Chris shook his head. "It's not that. I'm getting better is all and we have haven't seen or heard from Fod in three weeks."

"It doesn't mean he still isn't out there." Kensi countered. "But I'll tell you what, I'll spar with you and if you beat me, I'll tell Granger to send me home."

"That simple, huh?" Chris replied knowing that of all people, she would know where to hit him so that he would go down quickly. One shot to the left kidney and he'd been in the fetal position.

"Yup," Kensi quipped. "I do have to tell you though, that I kick my partner's ass on a daily basis and he's never been stabbed in the back."

Giving her a simple sigh of defeat, he touched her shoulder. "How 'bout we go fishin' instead? If I catch more fish, you head back to LA."

"Nice try, but for what it's worth. I'll put in a good with word with Granger, tell 'em you're coming along."

* * *

Brody sat in the chair across the desk from Dr. Sam Wilkens searching for answers.

"What's wrong with me, Sam?" She didn't really want to go into her fear of intimacy issues with her ex-lover but she didn't know who else to turn to. Samuel Douglas Wilkins was known for helping patients who suffered with PTSD.

"Why is it getting worse?"

Sam sat back in his chair chewing thoughtfully on his pen. At the risk of sounding a jealous ex-boyfriend, he preferred that Merri figured it out on her own.

"Let's think about your triggers."

Brody nodded, thinking back to the horrors of her kidnapping and the things that had had previously brought up bad memories, like her fear of water and excessive use of alcohol.

"Anything new, that brings them about?"

She thought for a moment, her moment of truth weighing down heavily.

"LaSalle?" Her voice sounded almost fearful. If Chris had now become a trigger to her nightmares how was she supposed to deal with that?

"Sam, what do I do?" Before he had told her to avoid her triggers, but this was Chris. She couldn't just abandon him over a few nightmares. She loved him too much for that.

Dr. Wilkens shook his head. It was much more difficult when the trigger was an actual person; however the remedy was still the same. "You can either continue to manage things as they come about or you try putting some distance between the two of you for a little while and see it that helps."

Distance?

Sam looked at her sympathetically. "Are those his clothes you're wearing?"

Merri looked down, the shirt she was wearing did belong to Chris. "I stayed there last night, I spilled wine on my blouse."

Sam took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, hating himself for the question he was about to ask but he was afraid that she had begun to live in some sort of fantasy world.

"How many days has it been Merri?"

Brody looked at her former lover, an edgy tone coming to her voice. "I don't know what you mean."

Sam pulled open the drawer to his desk and pulled out a file filled with graphic pictures. "We talked about this," he started softly. "LaSalle's gone. He died in your arms remember?"

Her lips started to part and she shook her head. "I-I-don't know what you're talking about."

"You went to the funeral," Sam said softly, taking out a picture of a newly added headstone.

Fiercely, she started to shake her head. "Chris is alive. He's with Agent Blye right now!"

Sam rose to his feet. "I'm sorry, Merri he isn't. We both know that Agent Blye just happened to be traveling through with Director Granger on another case when Agent LaSalle was killed. As a courtesy they reached out to the New Orleans office."

"You're wrong, Sam. "

Brody pulled to her feet meeting him as two men in white coats came through the door. "Agent, Brody you need to come with us."

 **A/N: Enter Fod... But what about Sam? Yes, another wicked twist.**


	10. One Who Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest

**A/N: Thank y'all for the reviews for the last chapter. Glad everyone seemed to have enjoyed the twist (or maybe not, considering what that might mean for our Bama Boy...)**

 **Savannah: Thank you for the compliment. You make me blush.**

 **Whatshername: I love Pride/LaSalle moments. TV Guide quoted that LaSalle will be struggling from the events of last season and will need Pride to mentor him, so I hope that means the writers will give us some quality Father/Surrogate Son moments this season.**

 **Thank you to my new follower and reviewer: InThisFieldOfPaperFlowers. Glad to have you on board.**

 **One Who Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest**

Brody looked over her shoulder, glaring heatedly at the orderlies before turning her attention back to Sam. "I got a message from LaSalle an hour ago. He was at the gun range with Pride. You can listen to it yourself."

Sam held out his hand. "Let me see your phone."

Brody reached for her phone and unlocked the screen, swiping to recent calls.

"There's nothing here." Sam gave her a pathetic look as he pointed out the list of missed callers, none of which bared LaSalle's name.

"I..uh…must…of eased it." An uneasy pit began to form in her stomach. Someone had gotten to her phone. Hastily, she hit the speed dial for LaSalle.

 _The number you have reached is no longer in service, please hang up and try your call again._

This wasn't happening. She was with Chris this morning, in the shower. They were kissing and even though it wasn't great it was real. She clearly remembered being cocooned in his arms while he shielded her from the water. Her mind couldn't make up something like that. Could it?

Her voice started to wobble as she tried to plead her case, again earning a pitied look.

Sam motioned for the orderlies to advance forcing Brody's hand. Whirling around, she drew her weapon.

"Don't take another step!" She purposely, stepped back standing at an angle so that she had all of the men in her sights. Unknowingly, she had just given Sam the evidence he needed to begin a regiment of psychotherapy. Drawing a weapon in a government building was a federal offense. One of which Sam could play a couple of different ways.

"Put the gun down, Merri." He said gently as several armed men, wearing Kevlar entered the room.

"Drop your weapon!"

Tears began to form on Brody's lashes in the realization that either she had just played into Fod's hands or she had been living in some sort of warped reality in which LaSalle might really gone.

"Call Pride!" she yelled averting her eyes to Sam. "Get him on the phone now!"

"You're in no position to be making demands, Miss." One of the men growled back, his intent becoming clear. "Put the gun down."

Three against one, the odds were not in her favor. Two she might be able to take, but not three.

* * *

Meredith Brody was in hell. Restrained in a hospital bed, in a white sterile room she was virtually helpless. They'd taken her clothes and her shoes and replaced them with a loose fitting pair of off-white cotton pants, white socks and a matching top, so that she looked like she was dressed in an ugly pair of scrubs.

"Meredith can you hear me?" Sam asked.

Brody turned her head towards him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because everything I see in you indicates that you've suffered a psychotic break."

A psychotic break. She almost laughed. "What did he do to you, Sam?"

"He?" The normally witty doctor looked at her confused.

"Fod!" Merri roared pressing against her restraints. If she could just free herself then she could make him see reason. Fod was behind this and LaSalle was not dead.

"Adkom Fod? The man responsible for having Agent LaSalle killed?" Sam looked down at his feet. "Merri, Fod is no longer a threat. It was all over the news. The President sent SEAL Team Six after him. They captured him weeks ago."

That was not possible she relented. She had spoken to him on the phone when she and Chris were in Florida. "First of all, LaSalle is NOT dead. Get it through your head. Nothing you say or do will make me believe that!"

"That's unfortunate," Sam replied softly as she narrowed her eyes. "The sooner you get into touch with reality, the sooner you can go back to living your life." He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper that had been folded in half.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked opening the paper.

"It's a death certificate." She said, remaining calm.

"And whose name is on it?"

 _Christopher LaSalle_

Brody saw the words but refused to read them out loud. If she did she might just crack and then she would be forced to believe that Chris was gone forever.

Sam sank into the chair beside her bed. "Don't you remember, you were with Loretta when she signed it?"

Stubbornly, Brody shook her head. A death certificate was such a simple document to forge. Any fool with a half a mind to operate a computer could fabricate one.

"It isn't real." She said woodenly.

"Look at it again. It has a state seal."

Brody looked at him with disgust. "What do you need me to say? LaSalle's dead?" she tossed out sarcastically. "That he died in that ally way and that you were the knight in shining armor that swooped in to save me? There, I said it. Now, let me go!"

Sam shook his head, a slight grin coming to his face. He was no hero. "I'm afraid, it's not that simple. You pulled your weapon in federal facility. That alone is worth a complete psych evaluation with a minimum of a 72 hour hold." He pulled to his feet. "I'm going to have a nurse come in and give you something that will help clear your head."

"Sam!" Brody yelled, again pulling against her restraints. "Sam, get back here!"

Outside, Sam could still hear her calling out to him. Hanging his head, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He hated what he was doing to her but he didn't have a choice. Eventually, he could call Pride, but not until he'd had the time to thoroughly assess her. For now, he would allow the proper chain of command to notify the Senior agent.

* * *

Days later, after she had proven she could remain calm, Brody sat on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest, her head pressed solidly up against the drywall. Whatever they had given her, was doing more than calming her head. It was turning her mind into Jell-O; a pile of mush who couldn't control her own thoughts. One minute, she was filled with uplifting thoughts and determination and the next she was paranoid as all get out.

Hallucinations were beginning to plaque her: Chris, Pride, Fod, Sophie, even her deceased twin, Emily. They would all appear promising to take her out of here but as soon as she moved they would disappear. She really was beginning to believe that she was losing her mind.

Mechanically, she started to rock her head against the wall causing a knocking sound. The slight discomfort it was causing was real, so why wasn't anything else?

She flinched as the door opened and a male figure entered and knelt beside her.

"Merri?"

"Chris?" she hiccupped as her heart skipped a beat.

"Try again."

Her heart sank. It was Sam. Unfortunately, he was the only person that she could count on as being real and that wasn't saying much.

"What do you want?" she snarled.

Sam sank to the floor, sitting in front her with his legs criss-crossed. "What I've always wanted." he said softly. "I want you to get better so that you can get out of here."

Brody, allowed a rueful grin to spread across her lips. "LaSalle and Pride, they'll come for me and when they do you'll be sorry."

"Well, maybe Pride will, but not LaSalle. We both know that is just not possible." Sam said, gently.

Brody squeezed her eyes shut tight in time her head connecting with the wall. "STOP STAYING THAT! JUST STOP!"

"Very well, we'll talk about something else then. How about the flashbacks and the reoccurring nightmares. Are you still dreaming about that night in the ally way?"

The answer was no but Brody refused to answer. She knew that if she did, Sam would some how tie it back to LaSalle and she didn't want to hear anymore about how the man that she loved was no longer part of this world and that he died in her arms crap. She would just wait it out. So, far it had been three days. She had three more to go. If, she could stay strong for just thirty-six more hours, she would home free and back in Chris' arms.

Part of her wondered however, if this still wasn't Fod and that the intent was for her to leave this place in a pine box. If that were the case she going to need more than her hope of being reunited with LaSalle to stay alive. She was going to need her wits.

Defiantly, she began to hum in effort to block Sam out. If she ignored him long enough, maybe he would go away. As he continued to speak, she began to rock harder, banging her head into the wall to the point that it was really starting to hurt.

"I need you to stop, Merri." Sam started to reach for her, causing the agent to spring forward. As Sam fell, backwards, she straddled him and reached for the jugular. Using both hands, she started to squeeze as hard as she could. She watched as his face begin to turn red, surprised that she had this much strength. She was also surprised that he wasn't fighting back.

"Just tell me the truth!" she growled. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Oblivious to the fact, that he couldn't speak, she listened as he started to gasp for air. She was so intent in what she was doing that she didn't see him pull a syringe from the pocket of his white lab coat. By the time she realized what was happening Sam was already jabbing her in the neck.

"He is threatening my niece." He said, as she released her grip and fell to the floor. Her eyes were still open, trying to fight off the threatening sleep as he pulled to his feet. Uselessly, she tugged at his pant leg as the drug started to take effect.

"I'm sorry, Merri. I never wanted to hurt you." he swallowed pulling his leg free from her fingers. He waited until she was completely out before dropping back down and hefting her into his arms and depositing her back into her bed. After composing himself, Sam walked out of the room making his way to the nurses station.

Palming the counter, he spoke to a plump nurse nearing her forties, "Maggie, I need you to do something personal for me." he reached for a packet of sticky notes and a pen that were sitting beside his hand. "I need you to be discrete. Use your own personal phone and don't let anyone else see you. Call this number and ask for Agent LaSalle. Tell him to come alone."

 **A/N: So is Sam actually a good guy or is he helping Fod set a trap for LaSalle? The action is starting to mount!**


	11. An Eye for an Eye

**A/N: Guess What? It's double update weekend! Thank you all for the lovely reviews for the last chapter. Since almost everyone had the same question, about Pride and LaSalle, I hope that this chapter will fill in some of the blanks.** **This chapter is mostly told from LaSalle's POV and get ready the action is starting!**

 **An Eye for an Eye**

"She said to come alone." Chris looked at Agent Blye as she settled into the passenger's seat of the truck. The nurse who had called explained that Sam had arranged for an _off the record visit_ which immediately threw LaSalle into an uproar, he knew from his experience with Cade that something was definitely off.

Kensi started to pull the seatbelt across her body. "Where you go, I go. Until something changes, you and I are a packed deal. If it makes you feel any better, I'll hang behind and we can commute by Bluetooth."

"My phone still ain't workin,'" he replied shoving the truck into drive. For reasons made unknown to him by his carrier, he was listed as deceased and was stilling fighting to have his service turned back on. Oddly enough, the carrier had received a copy of a death certificate bearing his name.

"Oh, and Pride's meetin' us there by the way. He'll be coming in through the front while we take the back."

Kensi closed her eyes and then opened them letting go big. Granger was going to have a fit. The sheer idea of LaSalle even being within one hundred feet of the institution where Brody was being kept was enough to have them all reassigned to Siberia.

"You can still change your mind, if ya want." Chris said gauging her expression.

Kensi shook her head. "My job is to have your back and that's what I'm going to do. Now about the Bluetooth, we have to communicate with each other while your inside."

"I don't need it." Chris answered as they left the French Quarter. "A few months back my brother was a patient in the same facility where Brody is being kept. I know it like the back of my hand."

"I had no idea," she apologized. "He seems like a really nice guy."

"He is but he suffers from Bi-Polar disorder."

Kensi offered him a sympathetic look. "These last couple of days must have been pretty hard on you then."

Chris gave her a simple nod as the truck entered on to the Interstate and began to pick up speed. In less than twenty minutes, they were parked at the back of the facility.

True to her word, Kensi hung back, covering his six as he made his way to the door where he'd been told someone would be waiting for him. Maggie was right on time.

Chris' brow furrowed as she motioned him inside. "Where's Doc Wilkins?"

"He's with a patient." Maggie replied using the rehearsed line that she'd been given. "But he said to give you this." Chris looked at the white lab coat and stethoscope in her hand and nodded mechanically.

After he had slipped them on, Maggie directed him up a couple flights of stairs and into the corridor that lead to Brody's room. Keeping his head down, he managed to spot Pride engaged in jovial conversation at the nurse's station.

Briefly, they made eye contact before LaSalle continued on down the hall. Brody's room was half way down from the nurses stations. Not to his surprise, the door was labeled with the words: _No unauthorized personnel._

* * *

Brody was lying on her side, clutching her pillow when she heard someone enter the room. Thankfully, Sam had only given her a mild sedative, still allowing her the ability to sense when others were near.

"Brody?"

Her entire body jumped at the sound of Chris' voice. She was surprised at how strong it sounded. Was she so far gone that her mind could conjure it with such clarity? To avoid disappointment, she closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that it was just another hallucination.

She clutched her pillow tighter as he sank to the edge of the bed and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "It's ok, Michigan, I'm right here."

Her heart started to flutter. _Michigan_ that was something that only Chris called her in private. God, his touch seemed so real, so warm. Unfortunately, she was too drugged up to acknowledge it with anything other than fear.

He was just about to scoop her up, when Kensi came up behind him and touched his shoulder. "We have a problem. Wilkins is dead. NOPD is combing his office. You and Pride need to leave immediately." Trying to visit Brody after Sam's nurse had reached out to them was one thing, but becoming active in a murder scene that they weren't allowed to be a part of was another.

Chris' face twisted. "Like hell we are. We aren't leaving here without Brody."

"I'll make sure she's safe, I promise," Kensi returned. "But right now, I need for you and Pride to get out here before Granger shows up."

Granger. Chris rolled his eyes. He couldn't give a shit about the assistant director.

"Christopher," Pride called out to his number one.

Chris clenched his jaw in effort to marshal his frustration. "Fine, we'll be waitin' in the truck."

"Just try to remain calm and let Agent Blye handle it." Pride clapped him on the shoulder as they made their way to the stairwell that would take them to the back exit.

Chris raised an eyebrow as they started down the stairs. "If that were Laurel in there would you let Agent Blye handle it?"

Pride instantly saw the younger man's point. "I know how you feel, with Cade and all, but for Brody's sake we can't be a part of this."

Chris doubted very seriously that Pride or anyone for that matter knew how he felt. After having to commit Cade and watching everything that he'd been through and now going through a similar situation with Brody, the last three days had been hell. When he had learned that Brody was being committed, Granger had threatened to throw his ass in jail to keep him from trying to bust her out. The Assistant Director had even gone so far as to place him under house arrest appointing himself as house monitor. It wasn't until he had allowed Kensi back into the loop, that Chris had been able to sway her with his charm, getting her to see his side of things.

"I'm not leavin' her locked up in there, King. I can't. The fact that she pulled her gun is bullshit and you know it." They both knew that Brody must have had a good reason, but Granger had chosen to allow her to do a six day psych evaluation under the supervision of Wilkens rather than facing criminal charges. At the time, they thought Wilkens was an ally.

Pride stopped midway down the stairs, "Chris, its three more days."

LaSalle's frustration level was rising. "Yeah, well, Doc Wilkins reached out to me for a reason and now he's dead. What if Fod is behind this and he's after Brody?"

Pride looked away for a moment. He couldn't deny that after what they had been through in Florida the theory was plausible. "All right, let's get back up there and get her, but if this goes bad and Fod isn't behind this, you need to know I have no recourse to help you."

Chris nodded as he turned and high tailed it back up the stairs. His job security was the last thing on his mind. His only concern was for Brody and her safety. The floor seemed deserted as he stepped back into the corridor and made his way back to Brody's room. Expertly, he drew his weapon before he eased his way inside.

What he saw made his heart pound, the bed was empty and Agent Blye was lying on the floor with blood oozing from her scalp. Sliding to his knees, he carefully, inspected the injured agent. She was still breathing and seemed to have a good strong pulse. Gently, he removed the com from her ear and started to communicate with Pride.

"Pride, Agent Blye is down and Brody is nowhere to be found."

"Just stay where you are. Don't go off lookin' for Brody on your own. I'm callin' in reinforcements right now."

"Roger that, King." He tossed the com aside and pulled to his feet. Chris was about to turn around when he felt the barrel of a gun press up against the back of his head.

"Agent LaSalle, it's so nice to see that you are alive and well. That will make what I am about to do to your precious Agent Brody a lot easier. Now drop your weapon otherwise the pretty lady on the floor will get another bullet to the head and this time I won't be as nice."

Fod. Chris was surprised that the terrorist was actually here in the flesh. Normally, he sent one of his flunkies to do his dirty work. Extending his arm, he dropped his gun on the floor and waited for Fod to kick it away.

Chris turned his head slightly to get a glimpse of the man who was holding a gun to his head. "Where is Agent Brody?"

Fod expressed a small grin. "Safe for the moment, just do as you are told and she will remain that way. Now, we must move quickly." Chris played along until they reached the stairs. He knew he had one of two choices: he could wait and see if King was outside or he could try and take down Fod himself. The odds of Pride still being at the back door were slim considering he had called in for backup so the agent chose the latter.

He waited until they were one flight down and then whirled on Fod using a move that he had performed a hundred times. The gun went sailing from Fod's hands and tumbled down the steps. But unfortunately for LaSalle, so did he. The two men fell together bouncing on the steps, head over heel.

By the time they reached the bottom, Chris was certain he had just undone several weeks' worth of physical therapy. The all too familiar pain started to radiate up his back. He needed to push through it he reasoned as Fod nearly leveled him with a right cross to the jaw. He tried to spring back up to his feet but Fod was stronger. So he reached up and grabbed the man's shirt front with a well-placed knee to the groin. The move would have worked perfectly, had he still not been so weak from the stabbing. All he managed to do was piss the terrorist off even more. He did get a slight bit of satisfaction however of having crushed the man in the nuts but it was short lived.

Fod reached for the gun as one of his men appeared, weapon in hand. Now LaSalle had no choice but to cooperate.

Fod sneered as he pulled himself off the captive agent. "Well, it seems that you have proved yourself to be a worthy adversary. Unfortunately, it will cost you dearly."

Everything was falling into place, thanks to the help of the dearly departed, Dr. Wilkens. He made a mental note that due to the good doctor's untimely demise to pull his men off the man's niece. It had a been cliché tactic but nevertheless it had worked. Vengeance would now be his. Due to Brody's meddling, Fod had lost his wife, and now she was going to lose the man that she loved.

Chris felt a shudder run up his spine. Fod's weapon was pointed directly at his face. Flat on his back, he was helpless to do anything to protect himself for the bullet that was yet to come. His only hope was that Fod wanted to use him as leverage against Brody.

"We need him alive." Fod told his man.

A thought suddenly occurred to Chris. Fod had left Kensi alive too. He had to wonder why as a trained terrorist, he had been taught to eliminate all who were in his way. "You don't know where she is do ya?" Chris tossed out. "That's why you need me."

On a hunch that Sam's killer might return, Kensi had carefully hidden Brody right before Fod shot her.

"You underestimate your worth." Fod fired the gun, with the bullet bouncing off the concrete narrowly missing LaSalle's head. Chris thought he was goner until he heard the side door creak open.

Pride and Percy stood together with their weapons trained.

"NCIS get your hands up!" Percy quickly fired off one round, hitting Fod's flunky in the shoulder.

Fod returned fire, causing the agents to dive for cover, before he started to make his way back of the stairs.

Chris started to jump up to his feet only to be held back by the pain radiating from his left side.

"Just stay down," Pride ordered making his way to his surrogate son. "Let Percy and the others handle it."

"But he's getting away!" Chris yelled in frustration as Percy started to take the stairs two at a time.

"Fod is in building on the back stairwell heading up to the second floor," she said into her com giving chase.

* * *

 **A/N: Ok, if it wasn't clear, Fod had Sam over a barrel, but in the end he tried to do the right thing and it cost him. Sniff.**


	12. From Beyond the Grave

**A/N: I'd like to say thank you, to Savannah and Whatshername for your comments on the last chapter. They always make me smile.**

 **From the Beyond the Grave**

"Chris, stay down!" Pride ordered as the younger agent popped back up with an agonizing groan.

"He's going after Kensi. She knows where Brody is!" Chris looked over his shoulder as he started back up the stairs with Pride trailing him.

"Christopher, you're bleedin.'" The amount of blood blossoming on the back of LaSalle's shirt looked too small for a bullet wound but stranger things had happened.

"I'm fine, King." Chris suspected he had torn open some of his sutures in the fall, causing one of his wounds to bleed.

Pride reached out and grabbed his protégé by the elbow. At any other given time the wound wouldn't have mattered but after what they had been through he couldn't take the chance. "You almost died a few weeks ago. Think about how Brody is gonna when she finds out that Fod had a gun to your head because you were trying to be the hero."

"I'm not trying to be a hero, King." Chris had heard these before and they were from Brody. She had accused him of the same thing when he'd tried to make-up for keeping Sophie's disappearance from her.

Pride looked at him sternly. "Trust me when I say, you need to sit the rest of this one out."

Chris wanted to argue but the truth of the matter was they had already lost too much time trying to go after Fod.

"Agent Blye is already with the paramedics and SWAT has the entire building covered. Pride added, "It's only a matter of time before we get him. You'd do better concentrating on Brody. She's going to need you when she finds out about Sam."

* * *

 **3 days later…**

Percy was standing at the Explorer when she saw Brody exit the treatment facility in typical hospital style fashion. It was the still beyond the rookie's agent's comprehension that Granger had insisted Brody finish out her entire 72 hour stay rather than just being released. But with Fod in custody there was little danger that he would try to come after the agent.

"You okay?" Percy asked as Brody slid into the passenger side, looking defeated.

Merri nodded as she crossed her arms over her chest tightly. The idea that Percy had come to pick her up instead of Chris sent a shiver up her spine. "Can you just take me to LaSalle's?"

The younger agent pursed her lips as she pulled the vehicle from the curb. "You sure you want that?" She asked for reasons that had nothing to do with Brody. With agent Blye still recovering from a gunshot wound Sonja had been assigned to watch over the Alabama born agent; A decision which had left LaSalle less than pleased with Fod in custody he didn't see the need.

He was tired of having a babysitter. That and he had run out of prescription pain medication. Needless to say, he was making Percy miserable.

Brody gave Sonja a tight but pleased smile. She wanted nothing more than be able to see and touch Chris in the flesh to disprove Sam's claim that he hadn't survived the stabbing.

* * *

"Chris, you here?" Brody called out as she walked into the house. He had to be here, right? Her heart started to pound as she recalled the last conversation she had with Sam. He almost had her convinced that Chris was dead. Her only saving grace was the fact that she was almost certain that she had heard Chris call her Michigan the night that Fod was captured.

First, she went into the kitchen and threw open the cupboard where she carefully scanned over every bowl, dish and cup. Everything was still in its proper place.

Next, she walked into the bedroom, searching for anything that might give her an indication that Chris was still alive. She checked the dirty clothes basket. Empty.

Crossing over to the wardrobe, she flung it open. Every shirt that she could recall Chris owning was there, hanging. She reached for the purple, green and yellow striped Henley pulling it off the hanger. Pressing it to her face, she inhaled deeply. The shirt still smelled like LaSalle with a mixture of cedar and varnish from the wardrobe.

"You plannin' on wearing that? Cause Madi Gras isn't until February."

Spinning around, she saw Chris leaning up against the jam of the French doors that separated the bedroom from the living room.

"Oh God," she swallowed, dropping the shirt onto the bed. "When you didn't pick me up and you weren't here. I thought you were… The rest of the sentence died on her lips as she crossed over to him and flung her arms around his neck.

"Just hold me, as tight as you can. Don't let go." She needed to feel his arms around her to dispel everything that Sam had put her through.

"You got it." Chris kissed the top of her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.

No matter how tight she held onto him she couldn't seem to get all of the horrors of the last several days free from her mind. "Sam tried to make me believe you were dead." She swallowed, not caring if her emotions were in check. She would keep the details of Sam's mental torture to herself for the moment she just wanted to relish in the fact that Chris was alive.

Chris pulled away from her slightly so that he could study her face. "That why you drew your gun?"

Brody could only nod as overwhelming fear threaten to claim her. Even though she was holding him she still wasn't convinced he was real. The manipulation was still doing quite a number on her head.

Chris wrapped his arms completely around her, forcing her to slide her arms around his torso.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered as she gave him a hearty squeeze that made him flinch. The bruises on his back from he'd tumbled down the stairs with Fod were more than protesting her touch. They were screaming at him to make her stop.

Brody lifted her chin to him, "Did you just flinch?"

"Nope," he lied taking her mouth before she could retort. Slowly and tenderly he kissed her, until the moment wound down into soft pecks.

"You flinched." She whispered as he proceeded to kiss her again, allowing her to dictate just how far things would go.

"You cannot lie to me." She grinned in between soft kisses. Reaching up she touched his face as their tongues started to duel for control. For the first time since he had awoken from the coma, she was actually determined to enjoy his kiss. No fear, just a sheer need to be with him.

She wanted all of him, she decided, knowing she couldn't make love to a ghost. Everything that Sam, had tried to take from her was still right here in front of her. She just had to claim it.

Sliding her hands under his shirt, she helped him rake it over his head. Gently, she ran her fingertips over his back mindful of the sutures that were still intact. Thankfully, most of the dissolvable stitches had faded away, leaving behind some rough patches of tender healing skin.

In matter of seconds, she had removed the blouse she was wearing and shimmied out of her dark leggings.

"Why don't you let me take the top." She whispered huskily thinking of his back.

Chris LaSalle never realized until just now how many muscles were involved in the art of lovemaking, particularly the ones in his back. Although, he had thoroughly enjoyed his moment with Brody, it had definitely come with a cost.

Brody lifted her big brown irises to him as she drew circles on his chest. "You okay?"

He responded with a kiss to her forehead. "Never better."

Brody lowered her eyes engaging in a pensive thought. She could tell he was trying to put her needs in front of his own and she loved him for that but it needed to stop.

Now that her immediate fear was dissolved, she began to concentrate on the moment she had just spent with Chris. As much as she hated to admit it, Sam had been right about one thing: he was the trigger to her PTSD.

Pushing the thought from her mind, she sat up and tossed back the covers without so much as a word.

LaSalle looked at her confused as she pulled to her feet and started to gather her clothes.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"I want to go see Sam," she replied dodging the question as she tugged her blouse over her shoulders. "And while we're there, I want you to have Loretta look at your back." She knew he wouldn't complain if she was asking for Loretta and while she was there she could get a look at the man who had betrayed her, a man she thought she could once love.

* * *

Loretta frowned deeply as she inspected the inflamed area where a couple of the sutures had been torn out from LaSalle's tumble with Fod.

"Does this hurt?" she asked watching Chris nearly jump out of his skin when she pressed on a sizable bruise near his rib cage and kidneys.

"Uh little," he hedged. Being with Brody had definitely done more harm than good, physically speaking.

The medical examiner shook her head. "It's possible you fractured a rib when you fell down the stairs. I'm going to give you some Tramadol."

Chris made a face. Not that he pretended to up on prescription pain medication. But he wasn't familiar with that name. "What?"

"It's from the Opioid family. It's used to treat severe to moderate pain. Veterinarians also used it to treat animals who suffer from end stage cancer and other life threatening ailments." Sebastian supplied, cheerfully. "The only drawback is that it's highly addictive."

"I get the picture." Chris looked back at Loretta, eyebrow cocked.

"Pay no attention to him, Christopher," Loretta grinned as she handed him his shirt. "Now, let's go see how Merri's doing, shall we?"

Chris was still working the buttons on his black polo shirt when they stepped out of the office and into the morgue.

Brody was standing with her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest gazing at Sam's corpse. Apparently, arm crossing was a new coping mechanism for the agent.

"What is the official cause of death?" she asked as Loretta circled around to the top of the autopsy table.

"He was strangled. You can tell by the bruising on his neck that it was someone with relatively small hands, a woman perhaps." Loretta answered watching the agent's face pale.

* * *

 _Sam started to reach for her, causing the agent to spring forward. As Sam fell, backwards, she straddled him and reached for the jugular. Using both hands, she started to squeeze as hard as she could. She watched as his face begin to turn red, surprised that she had this much strength. She was also surprised that he wasn't fighting back._

 _"Just tell me the truth!" she growled. "Why are you doing this to me?"_

* * *

LaSalle and Loretta watched as Brody's hand flew to her mouth and she started for the door. She needed air. Even from the grave, Sam was still playing games with her mind.

"Brody?" LaSalle called after her, following.

"Brody!"

Merri put up a hand, but didn't turn around. The idea that she clearly remembered attacking Sam was making her sick. Once she was outside she started to take in huge gulps of air hoping to fend off the impending anxiety attack.

It wasn't until she felt Chris grab her by the shoulders that she stopped.

"What's going on?"

"I think I may have killed Sam," she swallowed still trying to fend off the idea that her air supply was being cut off.

 **A/N: Not to worry, Fod will eventually get what is coming to him, but for now I really wanted LaBrody to have a Cherri moment after what Brody had been through with Sam. ;) But hey, at least he's in custody.**


	13. Blood on Her Hands

**A/N: After rereading the entire story I went back and clipped the end of chapter 12 so that's it's just Brody telling Chris that she thinks she killed Sam so that I can continue to be consistant with the idea of Brody having PTSD, hence the title of this chapter. That's not to say that there aren't more twists and turns along the way...**

 **Thank you to my guest reviewers.**

 **Whatshername: I love the detail and feedback that you put into your reviews. More PTSD comin' up!**

 **Savannah: Well, as the title says: Girl Under Fire. Fod is striking back pretty hard at our two lovebirds at the moment.**

 **DaisyDuke01: OMG, thank you so much for all of the great reviews for Girl Astray! I hope you continue to enjoy this story just as much!**

 **Blood on Her Hands**

Brody rubbed the back of her neck as she walked into the house and kicked her shoes off. After several long hours of talking things out with Chris and Loretta she still wasn't one hundred percent certain she didn't have something to do with Sam's death. She may not have been the one who actually squeezed the life out of him, but her connection to him had cost the normally kind doctor his life.

She had to hand it to Granger though, by making her complete her entire plan of treatment, NOPD had easily been able to rule her out as a viable suspect. Any trace evidence of Sam's skin under her fingernails was long gone. The documentation on her chart also showed that Sam had given her a sedative an hour before his death.

Crossing over to the refrigerator, she took out a blue bottle of her favorite Moscato and reached for a glass. The last 5 weeks had been nothing but pure hell. The only bright spot was that Fod was now behind bars, not that it helped her damaged psyche much.

She tried to settle in on the couch but it wasn't easy. She told herself repeatedly that things were going to be okay and that soon she'd start feeling secure again.

Now that she was home with Chris she had to wonder if she would wake up screaming again. She didn't have any idea of where to begin to tell him that he was the trigger to her PTSD. Obviously, just hoping it would go away on its own wasn't working.

But if she said something, she'd risk pushing him away and he'd already been through so much. Even though he had improved greatly since he'd left the hospital he still wasn't quite healed. The tumbled he'd taken with Fod certainly didn't help things.

She watched as he came in behind her and grabbed a beer from the frig. "If you're thinking of chasing down those pills you have in your pocket with that, think again." She warned.

He looked back at her with a crooked smile. It was true he was still hitting the pain meds and whatever analgesic he could get his hands on pretty hard but his years with Vice had taught him a thing or two about mixing pills with alcohol.

She pulled in her legs as he settled in beside her and let his arm stretch out along the back of the couch as she leaned into his shoulder.

"So, you think now that Fod's in jail, they'll let Pride have his job back?"

Brody certainly hoped so. What reason would there be for Granger to stay? She watched as he took a long pull from his beer. "Nothing against Agent Blye, I'd kind of like to go back to the being the one who watches out for your ass."

Chris looked down her trying to hold back a laugh. "Is that a hint of jealously, I detect?"

"Maybe I just want you all to myself." The truth was she just wanted things to be normal again. No Fod, no looking over their shoulders all the time, and no Granger. Most of all, she wanted it to be just the two of them, their NOLA family and Daisy.

"I like the sound of that."

Brody closed her eyes as he dipped his head to kiss her. She kept her eyes lowered for several moments afterwards as if she were refusing to make eye contact. There was no doubt that he had felt her stiffen when their lips touched.

"What?" he asked running his index finger across her cheek.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I was just thinking about something that Sam said to me."

Chris looked at her quizzically.

"That day you went to the gun range with Pride, I went to Sam because I've been having flashbacks."

Chris' brow furrowed, "What kind of flashbacks exactly?"

"That night in the alleyway. You almost dying in my arms."

He nodded pensively before taking another pull from his beer. "That why you shy away whenever we try ta-"

"Yeah," she replied softly feeling an awkward tension fill the room. She watched as he leaned forward and set the beer on the coffee table before resting his forearms on his thighs.

He wasn't an expert on PTSD by any means but he had learned a lot about emotional and physical triggers through his experiences with Cade. "Maybe we need to back off, take a break for a while."

What? Brody shook her head defiantly. She hadn't wanted it to come this. "That isn't what I want."

"But maybe that's what ya need." Save for her unplanned stay at the Hotel California, aka the looney bin, they had spent nearly every moment since the attack together with Brody tirelessly doting over him as he recovered.

As far as LaSalle as concerned it wasn't up for debate, if he was reason that she was in so much emotional turmoil, then it only made sense that he step out of the picture for a while and let her find her own way back.

"I'll call ya tomorrow." He said, pecking her cheek.

* * *

Brody was still sitting on the couch hugging a throw a pillow when she heard a knock, followed by the sound of the door opening.

"Brody? LaSalle?" Agent Kensi Blye called out.

"Just Brody," The response came from the couch.

The younger agent picked up on the emotion in Brody's voice instantly. "I didn't mean to intrude. Granger is sending me home tomorrow and I just wanted to say goodbye."

Brody sat up and swiped at her face as she invited Kensi to have seat next to her, "You just missed Chris. I don't know where he went."

Kensi looked at the older agent, a bit surprised that LaSalle would leave her considering what she had just been through. "I know this is none of my business but did the two of you have a fight or something?"

"No, we decided to take a break, give each other a little bit of space."

Kensi's dark eyes widened. "Ah, I've been there. After Afghanistan I had a really hard time dealing with everything. It really made me question my relationship with Deeks for a while."

"And now?" Brody questioned.

"Things are great. We're stronger than we've ever been."

"That's good to know." Brody replied, feeling like she had found a kindred spirit in this woman. "And thank you for saving my life and for watching over Chris."

"Anytime," Kensi returned, welcoming Brody's embrace. "And if you and Chris ever get chance to come to L.A. I would really love for the two of you to meet Deeks and the rest of my team."

* * *

 **Gator's Piano Bar**

Hands on her hips, Percy glared heatedly into LaSalle's back as he sat the bar with a glass of Whiskey and water. "Of all of the places in the places in the world, what in the hell are you doing here?" she roared, marching up to him. The fact that he'd come back to the place where he'd nearly been stabbed to death made no sense at all to the petite agent.

"Having a drink," he said with indifference as her eyes met the brown prescription medication bottle in that was tucked between his index finger and his thumb.

"WITH PILLS? Have you lost your damn mind?"

LaSalle's eyes narrowed slightly. "What if I have?" he clipped, messing with the beloved rookie.

Percy hopped up on the stool next to him. "Then you seriously have a problem!"

"I don't have a problem," he grinned tossing back his drink.

Percy got right up into his face, her big brown eyes bulging. "To hell you don't."

LaSalle continued to grin. Amused by her anger, he pushed the pills towards her, "Scouts Honor. I haven't taken any of them. You can even count them if you like."

"I don't need to count them to see that there is somethin' wrong with you." She hissed flinging the plastic bottle back into his direction.

Chris picked up the bottle and shoved it into his pocket. "Now that you've let know how you really feel, why don't you tell me what you're doing here?"

Percy made a face of disgust. "Brody called. Agent L.A. is looking for you. She's going home tomorrow."

LaSalle nodded. "What time's her flight?"

Percy hissed again. "I don't know. What do I look like? Your secretary?"

LaSalle shook his head as he looked down into his glass. Though he genuinely loved his relationship with the short and mighty agent, he didn't particularly want nor need her company at the moment.

"Somethin' else you need?" he asked making Percy scoff.

"Yeah, I gotta question for ya. You been outside in the alley yet?" Percy could tell she struck a nerve as she slid off the seat and strutted out.

Chris purposely waited until he was certain that Percy was gone before cashing out. As much as he hated to admit it, he had avoided the main parking lot that was accessible only through the alleyway.

Walking out, he looked at his truck that was parked across the street and then headed for the alley. Briefly, he thought about how the street camera had caught everything on tape and wondered if reprisals were going to be waiting for him when he returned to work. But that thought was cut short when he stopped and knelt down at the exact spot where he and Brody had been standing when the hitman struck.

An uneasy feeling started to form in his gut as he noticed his blood still stained the concrete. Instantly, he started to wonder why it had affected Brody so much more profoundly. From what he could remember, he had several reoccurring dreams while he'd been in the hospital for the most part his problems still revolved around a physical nature and the unconscious beginnings of prescription substance abuse.

Rising to his feet, LaSalle took the prescription bottle that Loretta had given him out of his pocket and glanced at it hard before popping the top and tossing back two of the chalky tablets whole.

 **A/N: I thought after 2 cliffhangers in a row, I'd save the next one for later and go with the hurt/comfort angle.**


	14. A Deal with the Devil

**A/N: All right, I have avoided a certain plot twist for as long as I can but I can no longer put it off. Thanks to Child of Loki for her suggestions on how Fod will fit into the final ARC of the story.**

 **A Deal with the Devil**

LaSalle never saw the man with the baseball bat coming at him until he managed to turn right into a classic Louisville slugger. The pills went flying as the bat came down again, this time on his shoulders, sending him down to the concrete. He remained conscious just long enough to see the bat hit the concrete beside him. It was tinged with his blood from where it had struck him above the eye near the temple.

"Leave the bat," One of Fod's minions sneered as a black van pulled up behind them.

* * *

Brody sat at her desk staring at her phone. It was a little after 10 a.m. and Chris had yet to call. It didn't really surprise her given the conversation they'd had about giving each other some space but she thought he would at least call or stop by to say goodbye to Kensi before she left for the airport.

Glancing across the room, she spotted Percy coming out of the kitchen. "Are you sure Chris was ok when you saw him last night?"

"When I left he seemed fine." Percy decided it best to keep the fact that he was at the piano bar to herself. There was no need to throw Brody into a tail spin.

"Are you sure?" Brody quizzed as her cell phone suddenly came to life with a video text and the words _Good Mornin'._

A bright smile sprang to her face as she opened the video expecting to see something cute created by LaSalle's warped but generally good natured sense of humor.

Her smile turned to confusion as a black screen appeared. Part of her hoped she was dreaming as she heard a muffled scream that sounded like it belonged to LaSalle.

"What is it?" Percy asked, noting her co-worker had just turned as white as a sheet with a set in look of terror. The rookie quickly crossed over to Brody's desk and stood behind her.

Brody started to speak as the blackness on the screen began to fade out and a clear picture of LaSalle's face came into view. He either appeared to be unconscious or was playing opossum in effort to stop whatever pain was being inflicted upon him. Judging by the position of his head and his arms, he was lying on his stomach and from what Brody could see someone had removed his shirt. She shuddered to as why as the words 36 hours came scrolling across the screen.

Oh God, why had she ever let him leave last night? What on Earth had made her think that just because Fod was locked up that they would be safe? How could they have allowed themselves to be lulled in a such a false sense of security?

* * *

"I want to stay and help," Kensi told Granger as her Taxi driver loaded her bags.

"I understand that," Granger said plainly. "But four days ago you took a bullet. Your job is done here. We need you back in Los Angeles, recovering."

"Why can't I recover here?" she challenged. "Agent LaSalle was my responsibility."

"Was, your responsibility," Granger repeated, this was now Brody's fight. "Fod is behind bars and it's time we give the New Orleans office back to Pride and his agents. I'll stay behind and see how this thing with LaSalle plays out. Hetty will keep you informed as things develop."

"Fine," Kensi huffed as the taxi driver looked at her impatiently.

* * *

Brody stood ramrod straight, holding her breath as she watched the video from the street camera, afraid of what she might see. A man of Middle Eastern descent was staring right up into the lens.

"You have 36 hours to release, Adkom Fod. Otherwise your agent will be returned to you sporting a blood eagle.

Percy's face twisted. "What the hell is a blood eagle?"

"A very excoriating form of torture. The rib cage is torn out from the victim and then broken to look like a pair of angel's wings," Pride answered feeling his stomach grow queasy.

"There ain't nothin' angelic about that." The young rookie muttered under her breath.

"I need to talk to Fod, alone." Brody looked at Pride almost daring him to state that she couldn't be involved.

"You can talk to Fod, but I will be there when it happens. Agreed?"

Brody didn't have much of a choice she reasoned thankful that Granger and Pride hadn't shut her completely out.

Thirty minutes later, they were standing in visitor's area in the maximum security section of the detention center where Fod was being kept.

"Just keep calm. Just because it's Christopher it doesn't change the way we do business." Pride told Brody as a uniformed officer escorted them to room where Fod was waiting with his lawyer.

As they sat down, Fod greeted his sister-in-law with a pleasant smile. "It's so nice to see you again, Meredith."

"Spare the niceties and tell me where your people are keeping Agent LaSalle." She knew that he wouldn't give up anything willingly in what would most likely be his final hoorah, but she had to start some where.

Fod glanced at his attorney earning a shrug. "I'm afraid I can't help you. I've been in here for over a week. I'm no longer responsible for what my former associates do."

"Bullshit!" Brody shouted slamming her hand down hard on the table as her dark eyes reflected hatred and anger.

"It is the truth." Fod's attorney said calmly. "Mr. Fod was arrested under the Patriot Act he has been granted no access to the outside world. Other than myself, the two of you are the only people he has spoken to since he was placed here."

The fact that Fod was being held under the Patriot Act didn't surprise the agents in the least. In fact, it was most appropriate. The big question was why hadn't he already sent off to Guantanamo Bay with the rest of the terrorists?

"Tell me where he is!" Brody demanded, once again earning a response from the soft spoken attorney.

"My client has admitted to several of the charges that have been brought against him, including kidnapping you and hiring a hit man to kill you and Agent LaSalle. If you must know, we are currently in negotiations with U.S. Attorney. My client has been offered a deal for a reduced sentence here in the United States, for exchange of the names of certain operatives overseas. Now it wouldn't make much sense if he were to engage in any type of activity that might jeopardize his well-being."

Brody almost laughed out loud. "That's absurd!"

"But true," the attorney looked at Pride. "You can call Karen Izzo personally if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary," Pride returned. "But I can promise you if Agent LaSalle isn't returned to us safely and unharmed, there will be no deal."

Fod glanced at his attorney. "May I have a word with my sister-in-law alone please?"

"Absolutely not," Pride retorted prompting Brody to squeeze his arm.

"Pride, it's okay."

All eyes were now on Fod's attorney, "As long as you both play by the rules, I have no objection."

"I'll be right outside," Pride told Brody.

Brody waited until the two men were gone before rising to her feet and switching off the microphone that pumped the sound into the room behind the glass.

"There, they can't hear a thing."

"You always were so clever. I can definitely see why my wife looks up to you." Fod replied in his most charming voice.

"My sister is no longer your wife." Brody returned icily. "And now I'm going to help her destroy you."

"Why do think I have to make this deal?" Fod chuckled, implying that any testimony from his soon to be ex-wife would be null and void.

Brody sank back into her chair. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Sweet Meredith," Fod taunted, sliding his hand across the table so that their fingertips were touching. "I have lots of things I'd like to talk about."

Brody retracted her hand as if she had been burned. "Let's start with Agent LaSalle. You've wanted him dead all along because of his connection to me."

Fod shrugged nonchalantly. "I've already admitted that I had my man try to kill him because you took my wife. I don't know what more you want me to say."

"Are your men killing him now?" Brody asked with precision, boring into the man's exotic hazel eyes.

"I do not know. I don't even know which of my followers are responsible for his abduction. But as an act of good faith, I am willing to help you find out."

"I'm listening." Brody said coolly as she began to strum her fingers on the table. She was curious as to why Fod was so willing to help.

"Was there a proof of life?"

"There is a video from the street camera. One of your men made a ransom demand, along with a threat."

Fod was intrigued. He really had no idea that his people were so loyal. "And what did they want?"

"They want to exchange Chris for you."

Fod looked at her unimpressed, wondering which of his low class minions had concocted such a disappointment of a plan. "May I see the video?" His thought was that he could identify which of his followers were responsible and possibly sweeten his deal with the U.S. Attorney.

"We have facial recognition." Brody told him. "We don't need you for identification purposes."

Fod nodded. "You must need something; otherwise you wouldn't have come to me."

Brody leaned across the table. "I need a list of possible locations."

Again, Fod nodded. "Bring me a name and I'll get you a location on one condition."

"What's that?" Brody's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You agree to have a dinner with me." In his mind, he had a lovely vision of he and Brody sitting by candlelight enjoying an elegant meal followed by romanticizing. For years, he had fantasized about what it would be like to bed his wife's older, but strikingly beautiful sister. It would be interesting see just how the agent would be willingly to go to get her lover back.

"Go to hell!" Brody clipped watching as a large grin spread across Fod's face.

"I have no doubt that one day that is exactly where I be but as things are right now, it looks like your Agent LaSalle may just beat me there."

Brody debated about throwing a chair at the bastard but then thought better of it. An outburst of that magnitude was probably what he was waiting for, so instead she kept her anger in check. "Get me a location and I'll see about getting you a steak."

"Kobe?" he asked hopefully.

"Sirloin," Brody countered. "But only after Agent LaSalle is returned alive."

Fod contemplated. "Then I'll need an ankle monitor. You know how my men are. They'll only listen to me." They would also have to know that he was free of duress.

Brody raised an eyebrow. He was enjoying this entirely too much. "That what your men were doing when they were torturing me? Listening to you?"

Fod sat back in his chair clasping his hands together. "That my dear was personal business. You had something I wanted back." He surveyed her closely as her jaw began to clench. He could see that she was clearly getting flustered. "Now about that ankle monitor?"

"I'll see what I can do." Exasperated, Brody started for the door, only to find herself trapped by Fod's continuous comments.

"Oh by the way so sorry about your Doctor friend. He seemed like a nice chap." he laughed as the door slammed behind her.

"What happened?" Pride asked as Brody breezed past him.

"I need a minute," she returned stiffly, high tailing it for the nearest ladies room. Thankfully, the one on the maximum security floor was a single private room and not one with several stalls. After locking the door, she turned on the water to the facet and stared into the mirror. How could this be happening again? Truthfully, what were the odds that two people who loved each other could wind up being so tortured by one man? She and Chris were good people. Where in the hell was their happily ever after?

Spying the trash can, Brody picked it up and chucked it in into the adjacent wall before letting out a scream. To get Chris back, she was going to have make a deal with Fod? Seriously? Where was the justice in that?


	15. Two Ships that Pass in the Night

**A/N: I think I'm on a roll. The end is definitely in sight! But we have a little ways to go first and a bit more story to tell. :)**

 **Thank you to my guest reviewer: Whatshername: I enjoy the banter that occurs between LaSalle and Percy. They just seem to have a natural chemistry. As for Brody's dinner with Fod, we'll see just how far she is will to go to save her boy from Bama. ;)**

 **Thank you and welcome to my new follower: dimegurl**

 **Two Ships that Pass in the Night**

 **8 hours gone**

She had officially gone insane. It was the only plausible explanation she had for agreeing to work with Fod or as the U.S. Attorney had stated this was his test to see if he would make a reliable informant.

Fod had a lot riding on this, but Brody had more. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her not to do it. There were other ways to get Chris back she tried to tell herself. Safer ways. Smarter ways.

But would they work in time? They only had 28 hours left and she didn't even have a clue as to where to begin to look. She assumed that at some point Fod's men would contact them again to arrange an exchange point, but what if they didn't? What if this was just another sick twist created from the depths of Fod's mind?

She and Percy stood around Pride's desk as they watched an officer of the court fit Fod with a fully operational ankle monitor.

"You mean to tell me that the man who tried to kill LaSalle not six weeks ago now wants to help save his life?" Percy looked perplexed and pissed off at the same time. "That makes no sense."

"None of this has ever made any sense," Brody retorted quietly as the court officer called her over and explained how the ankle monitor would work. Fod would be allowed to move about freely as long as he didn't get more than 100 feet away from Brody or the designated building that she was in. For the moment she and Fod were packaged deal.

After the formal agreements were made, Fod was shown the video from the street camera. "Play it again." He requested, so that he could further study the footage.

"The man speaking into the camera is Zahir Al-Rahim," Body paused the video right on the close-up of the man's face.

Fod looked at the screen capture for several moments. "I do not know this man. He is not part of my organization."

"Ah, C'mon," Percy glowered. "First, you nearly kill LaSalle, now you're going try to tell us that the men who have him aren't your people? How dumb you think we are?"

Fod looked at the petite dark skinned agent intrigued. "I would never presume that an agent with your training or Meredith's could ever be perceived as dumb. I know all of the people who work for me and their families." Now he was pointing at the screen. "I can tell you with certainty that the man on the screen is not a part of my organization."

"He may be telling the truth," Pride said as he appeared. "I just got a fax from Homeland security and it seems that Al-Rahim works with a terrorist faction who calls themselves _Saviors of Allah_."

Fod put his hands up. "Completely different organization. This group has no connection to my people or what we do."

Percy gave him her best smirk. "What do you advertise on social media now that you specialize in kidnapping and tormenting Federal Agents?"

"Sonja," Brody was quick to shut the younger agent down before redirecting her attention back to Fod. "So, if your people aren't behind this then why would another organization bother with taking LaSalle and making a ransom demand that includes you?"

"As your sister can tell you, I have many enemies. Perhaps they are wanting to set up what remains of my followers?"

"You mean the ones you aren't selling out?" Percy asked with a sharped tongued lash.

"Ignore her," Pride countered, giving Percy a hard glare. "Go ahead Brody."

"OK, say that is true. If the exchange should occur what do you think will happen to you?"

Fod's facial expression changed to a large grin. "Let's just say NCIS isn't the only organization who placed a bounty on my head."

"So they want to kill you? Why?"

Fod put up his hands out. "Transfer of Power? Changing of the guard. It is hard to say. I've stepped on a lot of people on my way to the top."

Brody looked at Patton. "Ok, let's switch to the video I received from Chris' phone this morning."

Patton tapped his keyboard toggling between the two video clips. The blacked out image on the second clip appears along with LaSalle's howl of pain, followed by a 10 second close-up of the captive agent.

"Go back to the beginning," Fod requested, "The part where lover boy is screaming."

Both Brody and Percy leveled the man with if looks could kill glares.

"Say anything like that again and you'll be the one whose screamin,'" Percy warned.

"I thought I heard something just after that." Fod said quickly trying to defend his snide statement. "Is there any way you can edit Agent LaSalle's voice out?"

Patton remained silent for a moment. "Do you have any idea of who you are talking to?" Within 10 minutes the computer whiz had successfully managed to remove part of the audio so that all that could be heard was the sound of turning metal.

"What is that?" Brody glanced at Pride.

"I don't know. But let's get it to Sebastian so that we can find out. "

* * *

On the ride over to the lab, Fod sat in the backseat of the Explorer with his hands cuffed in his lap while Brody drove and Percy rode shotgun. "Tick Tock, Tick, Tock," he said in an annoying manner as Brody eyed him through the rear view mirror.

"Remind me why we had to bring Mr. Timex along?" Percy turned around, giving the terrorist a murderous look.

"Where I go, he goes." Brody said calmly. No matter how things played out he wasn't leaving her sight until it was time for him to go back to lock-up.

"Tell me, Meredith do you still wear that alluring perfume? You know the one you had on the night my wife conveniently disappeared?" He had purposely left out the part where Brody had tried to seduce him in an effort to get Sophie out of the house.

Even though the overall mission had been a success, things had ended badly for Brody.

Brody ignored the question, allowing Percy to unleash more of her frustration.

"Can we gag him, please?" The former ATF agent could clearly see what Fod was trying to do.

"We're here." Brody pulled the Explorer into a reserved spot next to Loretta's car and stepped out of the driver's seat circling around to the back to get Fod while Percy scoped out a clear path of entry.

Fod purposely leaned into Brody as she tugged on his elbow. "Tell me, does Agent LaSalle know that I've been inside your lions?"

Brody held onto his arm a little tighter than she needed to as she whispered in his ear. "If he ever finds out, I will personally castrate you with a dull knife."

Curious, Fod stopped. "I'm curious, just how much are you willing to risk to get him back? As much as you risked for your sister?"

"Keep moving." Brody grunted, refusing to dwell on her past choices. She would do whatever she needed to save LaSalle even if it meant sacrificing herself.

Once they were inside, Brody released one side of the handcuffs and tethered Fod to a metal pole that ran up to the ceiling.

"Sebastian, please tell me you have something on that sound bite I sent."

"Actually, I do. The sound that you hear in the background are the gears turning on a watertight door, the kind that you find on ships."

Brody tried to hold back her tight smiled as she looked over at Fod. "A ship now isn't that a coincidence." When he was holding her prisoner, he hid her on an old rusted out ship that was in dry dock, just outside of the city.

Fod looked at her, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "What I can say, great minds think alike."

Brody tossed him a disgusted glance right before the lab geek filled in another piece to the puzzle.

"There's more. I took the liberty of editing the audio one step further and beyond the sound of the gears of the watertight door there's also a hum."

"A hum?"

"From an engine, the vessel that LaSalle is on is moving."

"So Chris is on a moving ship?" Her heart sank a little. Chris could already be in the Gulf of Mexico by now. "Can you tell what kind?"

"Normally in this area the only three types of ships that have watertight doors are Navy vessels, cargo ships and the occasional cruise ship."

Brody's mind began to tick. If they contacted the Coast Guard they would be able to create a list as to which ships were within a hundred mile radius of the city. "Thank you, Sebastian! You're a genius!"

Brody then turned to Percy. "Watch him." she said referring to Fod. "I'm going to go call Borin."

As Brody left the room, Percy noted a dejected look in Sebastian's eyes. "You did good, tall and nerdy!" she jeered sensing he was keeping something from them. "So why do I get the feeling some bully just stole your lunch money?"

Sebastian nodded somber. He'd also found something else. Something on the unpleasant side. "I managed to remove the parts of the video that were blackened out." He said finally.

"And," Percy gently gave his forearm a squeeze.

When I enlarged the stream to its original size, I saw what they were doing to LaSalle."

"We're going to find out eventually," Percy coaxed.

Sebastian swallowed hard and then pushed his glasses up onto his nose. He was about to speak when Brody came back into the room, "Abigail is going to generate a list and start searching all of the active vessels in the area."

Percy looked up at her man crush intently and with the slightest of movement shook her head suggesting that he keep the information to himself, until she had a chance to hear it first. "Send it to me." she mouthed, wanting to protect Brody.

As they walked back out to the car, Fod took the liberty at taking another shot at Brody. "You know that he isn't going to be on any of the vessels that the Coast Guard finds."

"What makes you so sure?" Brody ripped icily.

"Because if it were me, I would choose a vessel that's not going to be on their radar."

Brody narrowed her eyes. "You didn't before."

Fod gave her a half smile. "Technically, your people got lucky." Thanks to Addie Watkins one of his men on the watch list had been spotted by a Navy drone. "You're going to have to look harder this time."

"That's why I have you." Brody gave him a shove depositing the villian into the backseat.

Fod smiled wickedly and blocked the door with his foot as she attempted to shut it. "Have dinner with me and I'll make certain your partner is returned safe and sound by morning without another mark on him."

Brody let her arm rest on the top of the door. "I thought you weren't connected to these people."

"I'm not," he replied in earnest, "but it is possible that I have associates who are."

"And you're telling me this now?"

Fod shrugged, "You're a resourceful woman. Maybe I just wanted to see how far you would get on your own."

"Oh, I see," Brody laughed. "You think I still need you."

"No," Fod returned calmly willing to play this hand for as long as it would hold out. "We need each other. We're soul mates you and I."

Unable to marshal her growing emotions, she played right into his hands. "I don't need you, you sick bastard. And for the record you put a knife into my soul mates back!"

"Technically, that wasn't me, but if you want to talk about backstabbing. You should talk to your partner over there. She has something that she's keeping from you."

"What?" Brody adverted her eyes to Percy.

The younger agent had been so engrossed with the enhanced video that Sebastian had sent her, that she hadn't been paying attention to Brody and her on-going bickering with Fod. "I can explain," Sonia started out slowly. "Sebastian found something else on the video. I just wanted to check it out first before you saw it."

"Give it to me." Brody ordered extending her hand.

"It's pretty bad." Percy said sheepishly, as she handed her the phone. She and Fod could only watch as Brody viewed the blocked contents of the video.

The images were graphic and at the moment were more than she could handle. Swallowing back the lump in her throat, she quietly handed Percy back her phone before turning to Fod.

"Get him back tonight and I'll do whatever you want."

Fod hung his head as she closed the door. The game wasn't going to be as much fun if she wasn't willing to fight.


	16. How Much Does He Mean to You?

**A/N:** **Well since I am writing faster than some of you can respond I will again say thank you in advance and just say that this writing marathon is treat for all of you who have stuck with me through this crazy Cherri/LaBrody adventure. Last update until next weekend.**

 **How Much Does He Mean To You?**

 **20 Hours Gone**

"Talk to me, Abigail." Pride answered the phone with a sound of urgency in in his voice. Twelve hours had passed since she had sent out four search and rescue vessels and two helicopters to look for LaSalle.

"Dwayne, I have used every resource within my reach and I can't find a trace of LaSalle anywhere." They had literally searched every vessel on the open water from New Orleans to the Gulf Coast and the Pacific Ocean. She had even gone so far to reach out to one of her Navy contacts about looking into active submarines.

Pride closed his eyes. This wasn't the news he wanted to hear. "Just do me a favor go back over everything again and keep looking."

As he hung up the phone, he noticed that Percy was staring at him expectantly. "Speak."

"Am I the only one who sees somethin' wrong with this picture?"

"Continue."

"It's been twenty hours and we've only received one proof of life and one demand with zero direction on how to proceed." The boisterous agent placed her hands on her hips. "And don't even get me started on Brody. She's putting all of her cards into Fod like he's some kind of savior. I'm tellin you, Pride, it's starting to sound like the girls got Stockholm syndrome or something. LaSalle's out there somewhere getting sliced and diced and she's at home gettin' ready for a date."

Pride raked his hand over his mouth. There was some truth in what the rookie was telling him but over the last couple of years, he'd come to put his faith in the members of his team. "Brody's a smart girl, she knows what she's doing."

Percy let out a long sigh. "For LaSalle's sake, I certainly hope so."

* * *

At home, Brody stood in front of her full length mirror and smoothed her hands out over her dress. It was the same black dress that she had worn the night of the city park bombing; black like the color of Fod's soul.

With only 16 hours left and no leads, the worn out agent had gone into fight or flight mode. The graphic images of the newly healed scars on LaSalle's back being reopened had her PTSD working on overtime to the point that she couldn't think straight. She needed a focal point. Crossing to the dresser she opened the top drawer and pulled out the oversized Roll Tide t-shirt Chris had given her the first night that she had slept on his couch. "I'm going to get you back," she said softly fingering the red letters.

* * *

Brody arrived at the restaurant right on time. Chez Suzette was one the most elegant restaurants in the garden district serving a wide variety of both French and American cuisine, including Kobe beef.

No surprise, Fod was waiting at the entrance surrounded a by three Federal agents. Though it turned her stomach to even think it, Fod was a handsome man with deliciously looking hazel eyes. The dark suit he was wearing only served to highlight his already striking features. Even in handcuffs, the man still managed to turn heads.

As Brody approached, the agents surrounding the renowned terrorist stepped back giving her some space, "Why don't we just skip dinner and go to what you really want?" she said with a smile as she took a hold of his elbow.

Fod feigned playing dumb. "And what do you think I want?" The fact that she was so willing to cheapen herself so quickly rather hurt. He wanted it to be special like the last time. A slow, planned out seduction with electrifying consequences. At least they had been electrifying up to the point where he realized he'd been duped. But he also knew that Merri had enjoyed it too on some level.

Her dark eyes narrowed heatedly as they walked into the restaurant where they were quickly seated at a table for two with their entourage standing at various vantage points around them.

Brody ordered her favorite meal but never touched it instead she allowed her eyes to bore into him while he thoroughly enjoyed his $160 steak with a side of capers, minus the handcuffs. He was wasting time she thought as she glanced at the watch on her wrist. Two hours had passed since they had sat down and ordered and not a single word had been mentioned about his meeting with his contacts.

"How about a walk through the park and some dancing?" he asked, as if she really were his date and not his emotional blackmail victim.

Merri felt her jaw set as she recalled how well he had actually treated Sophie throughout their marriage. He had everyone fooled into believing that he was nice and decent man until the murdering power hungry side of him came out.

Now, he was stalling. There were only 14 hours left. Though she had not expected Fod, to just blurt out the information he had received from his contacts, she was starting to feel a little on edge. "One dance," she replied as he rose to his feet and took hand. "But I have to warn you if you try anything I will stab you in the back with a steak knife."

She felt the couple of sips of wine she had with dinner begin to rise back up her throat as his arms slipped around her waist. She purposely stiffened as his hand slipped a little lower than intended.

Fod twirled her around to avoid having his hand swatted. "So, you never did answer my question. Exactly how much is Agent LaSalle's life worth to you?"

Brody picked up her head. "For someone who is trying to make a deal with the U.S. Attorney as an informant, you aren't winning any points."

"Quite the contrary, my Dear, if it's points you're interested in, then I'm definitely in the lead."

"Then tell me, what I need to do to get ahead." Brody snarled through clenched teeth. She was quickly growing tired of this game.

"Fod leaned in, his hot breath on her neck. "You already know the answer to that."

Brody closed her eyes as his lips grazed her tender flesh. The sensation of lips on her body was making her sick.

"Just tell me where he is," she pleaded into his lips as his nose brushed against hers. "Please." For several seconds, their eyes met in a twisted starry gaze. She hated herself for giving in like a whimpering quim, but at the moment it was the only tactic she could think of. Giving herself to him once before had worked, but did she really want to go down that same path again?

It wasn't hard to seduce the man when she needed to get her sister out of the house and to safety. In fact, it had been quite easy. An overextended visit on Brody's part followed by several suggestive moves and flirtation and the man became hers. It was almost scary how quickly she had gained his trust and lured him into her bed. Originally, sleeping with him wasn't part of the plan, but it quickly became the necessary means to meet an end. When it was over, Brody had cried her eyes out and it had taken her months recover, emotionally.

But now… Well, she was already so broken that there wasn't anything left to recover. Except Chris.

Yes, she was begging. Why on Earth had he ever thought that physical torture would do when this was so much more fun? Fod leaned in one more time, nipping at her ear. If she would allow him he would degraded her to the lowest point possible and then throw her away.

Brody felt his grip tighten as she tried to pull back. Fod cupped her chin as he began to snicker. "Again, how much is Agent LaSalle's life worth?"

She reached behind her, her fingers curling around a carefully placed steak knife. "So much that I'm not willing to let you dictate the outcome of this little game. Now you either tell me what you know or I am going to personally call the U.S. Attorney myself and tell her that you are not going to make it as an informant and that she should with force inflict the full consequences of the Patriot Act upon you. Am I clear?"

Fod leaned again leaned in, his hand capturing the one that held the steak knife. "Crystal, but if you are planning to harm me with that knife you best remember that I am capable of inflicting a much harsher pain on you and the people you love."

* * *

Abigail Borin stood in the control room pouring over a list of coordinates they had already searched. "Ma'am, chopper one needs to refuel," her right hand told her.

Abigail frowned she knew that she needed to push on but they were all beginning to run on reserves. "Ok, Charlie, tell them to come in and take a break. I don't think we're going to get much more done here tonight."

The idea of waiting 8 more hours for daylight turned her stomach but without something more concrete to go than a moving ship she was stuck. Most of the vessels they had searched would gone by first light, leaving them with nothing.

Was it possible that she missed something? "Hanson," she called out to one of the enlisted men working the radar/sonar equipment. "Give me a status of update on everything that's still moving in quadrant two."

"Roger that Ma'am."

She was waiting for the report when another voice called out to her. "Ma'am it looks like we may have something in quadrant three. Abigail walked over to the young guardsman.

"There's a ship 150 miles off of where the Mississippi meets the Pacific. Chopper two reported checking it at 2:40 this afternoon and came up with nothing, but the since then the ship has stop moving."

"Stopped moving?"

"Yes, Ma'am. My best guess is that it seems to be idling." In Abigail Borin's world a cargo ship that was just sitting idle in the middle of nowhere was never good news.

Shit! Borin swore under her breath. "Charlie! Get a hold of chopper one. Tell them as soon as they are done refueling that they are to pick up NCIS Agent Pride and his team at the landing pad in New Orleans and take them to these coordinates."

She reached for the radio. "This is Coast Guard 7459. I need a direct cellular connection to the NCIS office in New Orleans."

In a matter of seconds, Pride's voice came back. "Two times in just as many hours, please tell me you have something."

"I've got a cargo ship that's dead in the water and I'll bet you the best coffee in New Orleans that LaSalle is on it! I'm sending a chopper to pick you and your team up, right now."

If this pans out, I'll owe you a lot more than coffee." Pride looked heavenward before filling in Percy.

"Go pull Brody out, now. We need her. Abigail's got a lead on Chris!"


	17. Deal or No Deal

**A/N: Here we are another weekend, another chapter. As I was writing this chapter, I couldn't help but think that the second half of this story reminds me of my "Sideways" collection. Just so you know in my head I view each chapter as an episode with changing plots. I didn't really intend to go this way, it just sort of happened. I received a couple of pm's as to the lack of LaSalle in the last few chapters. You all have no idea how hard it has been for me to leave him out.**

 **Whatshername: No worries, real life happens. The date from hell will be ending quickly. ;)**

 **Deal or No Deal**

Fod leaned again leaned in, his hand capturing the hand that held the steak knife. "Crystal, but if you are planning to harm me with that knife you best remember that I am capable of inflicting a much harsher pain on you and the people you love."

She tried to struggle but her hand was in such an awkward position that she couldn't fight his against his grip. Just a slight twist in just the right direction would break her wrist.

She was powerless as he pressed up against her, and claimed her mouth, drinking in all that he could before she managed to clamp down on his on tongue.

"You always were the feisty one." He quipped, noting that she had drawn blood.

Brody started to swing at him as Percy appeared behind them. "What the hell are you doing?" she said in disgust as she motioned to the agents to take Fod to the awaiting cruiser. "If you think givin' in to him is gonna get LaSalle back, girl you really are crazy."

* * *

 **Hours Gone 24**

Brody slipped on her Under Armor jacket over her Kevlar as Pride laid out series of weapons needed for their mission: two automatic rifles, an additional SIG, and extra ammunition.

"Once we're air born, it'll take us an hour and a half to reach the ship. When we're about ten miles out, I'll ask the pilot to drop a raft and we'll sail in the rest of the way." Pride explained, wanting the element of surprise. "I'll have Abigail's people to serve as lookouts while you, me and Percy board. Then the three of us will split up and look for LaSalle."

"What do we do about crew?" Percy asked picking up one of the rifles.

"We'll take care of them along the way." Pride returned. "The only thing that matters is that we find Christopher."

"What if he isn't there?" Brody dared to breathe. Just because Abigail found an idle ship didn't mean her partner was on it. The fact that the rescue crew had already searched it once and come up with nothing struck her as odd. Usually terrorists were very open with their torture and needed space to work. Evidence should have been all over the place.

"The ship was abandoned earlier this afternoon after the Coast Guard made their search." Fod said calmly from where he stood several feet back.

The three agents stopped their preparation, glaring intensely.

"And you know this how?" Brody challenged as Percy let out a well-timed retort.

"Because, he's the one who told them to abandon ship."

Fod gave the rookie a curt look. "I received word from a trusted colleague this afternoon that the cargo ship is nothing but a decoy, designed to waste your time."

"You've known since this afternoon!" Brody thundered. "And you're just now telling us this?"

"I was rather enjoying our game." Fod returned quickly in a tone that only he could deliver.

Brody felt her heart plummet. She may have managed to save her dignity but he'd still managed to make her feel like a fool. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"You don't," Fod shrugged trying to make her think. "But if you go out to that ship and LaSalle isn't there, then you have wasted 4-5 hours of precious time."

"Unlike the time that you and Brody wasted going to dinner right?" Percy shot back. She was tired of this stupidity. The man was a dog that needed to be put down.

"Do you know where LaSalle is?" Pride asked calmly, as if he were the eye of the storm. If Fod, answered wrong, he would release everything he had on the vicious terrorist.

"Perhaps."

"I say we take our chances with the ship," Percy said, glancing at Brody as she removed her handcuffs from her belt. They were running out time. Abigail's lead and Sebastian's scientific knowledge were their best hope.

"If you go out that ship you will die, Agent Percy." Fod said with conviction.

Percy held her ground, "What are you going to do? Send a hitman after me?"

Fod sank his teeth into his bottom lip. The young agent was becoming quite an annoyance. "There's a possibility that LaSalle is still on the ship. My intel was not exactly clear on that. But I can tell you, that if you go out there you could be walking into a trap."

"All the more reason to think that LaSalle is there," Brody glanced at Pride before reaching for the extra sig and tucking into the holster at her back.

* * *

Brody held onto the strap above her head as heart slammed up against her chest. She was afraid of what they would find once they got on the ship. What scared her more however was the idea that she had let Fod slip so far under her skin that she was willing to compromise anything in order to get LaSalle back. If and when she got her partner back she dreaded telling him about her moment with Fod, but given that Percy had caught her in what could be a compromising position she would have no choice. But she would rather tell him about her past encounter with the terrorist than mourn a dead body.

Dead body she mused. The idea of completely losing Chris had now become a vicious cycle of the terrorist's obsession with her. It seemed almost certain that Fod wanted her Alabama born lover out of the picture and wouldn't stop until he succeeded. She knew she should be scared to death curled up on the floor in a heap, but other than her heart beating furiously, she felt strangely calm. She refused to allow Fod to see her emotions this time.

"We're coming up on the vessel now," the pilot said. As they drew closer, Brody could see a constant stream of black smoke pouring upward into the night sky followed by an occasional flicker of flames. The ship was on fire.

"Pride," she called out garnering the older agent's attention from where he sat up front next to the pilot.

"I see it."

"You still want to try to board her sir?" the pilot asked.

Pride averted his eyes, stomach twisting. "It's not a matter of want. It's family."

Fifteen minutes later, two guardsmen were lowing the raft into blackish looking water using a bright spot lights to guide them. Percy was first to climb down the rescue latter, followed by Pride and finally Brody.

"We'll board on the bow away from the obvious flames," one of the guardsmen stated as an ominous rumbled occurred from deep inside the belly of the boat.

"That did not sound like anything good." Percy quipped, right before the sound of twisting metal sounded announcing the start of a fire storm. Debris flew at them from all directions as the ship exploded, capsizing the raft.

Brody should have remembered that explosives were a part of Fod's signature as burning debris started to rain down on them, but she too focused on stopping her body from being forced into the depths of the ocean. Helpless, she tumbled head over heel, taking in huge mouthfuls of salt water. Pieces of burning metal peppered her Kevlar and legs as she fought to find her way to the surface. Oddly enough this reminded her of the dream she had right before Chris had awoken from his coma. She'd been drowning, just like she was right now.

"Pride! Sonja!" she choked anchoring herself to a large hunk of floating metal. For what seemed like an eternity, she hung on taking the pelts of the waves as they hit her in the face, bringing back memories of Fod's torture.

Suddenly, it seemed so silly, to be have been frightened of the shower when now she was in the middle of the ocean with the threat of being swallowed whole.

She realized that at some point she must have passed out when she woke up to the sensation of Pride and Percy pulling her back into the rescue raft. "We have to go back for LaSalle." She coughed as she landed on the floor of the hard rubber.

"There ain't nothin' to go back to," Percy managed cradling the older agent's head as the three of them huddled together, praying that Chris hadn't been on the ship.

* * *

 **32 Hours Gone**

Three sets of anxious looking eyes looked into the plasma screen as Abigail's face appeared. "The preliminary team just finished their report. There were no signs of human remains within a twenty mile radius."

"That's good news," Pride smiled as Brody and Percy flung their arms around each other.

"Well it's the least I could do considering I almost got the three of you blown up."

"It was a good call." Pride assured her. "We'll keep you posted."

"Ahem."

Brody looked over Percy's shoulder to see Fod standing in the doorway with one of his assigned federal agents.

"I don't suppose _I told you so_ would be in order _,"_ He quipped as they made eye contact. "Perhaps, next time you'll listen to me."

"What do you want?" she snarled.

Fod glanced at his watch. "With only four hours left, I was rather hoping we could make a deal." He said, looking at Pride.

Pride's eyes narrowed slightly. "What kind'na deal?"

"I want to see my wife."

Brody shook her head. "You bastard, this is what you've wanted the entire time. Well, guess what? I won't do it!" Even if she agreed, dealing with WITSEC for a second time would be virtually impossible; the agency had already pulled in every favor they had to allow Brody to see her sister the first time. She raked a hand through her hair and started for the courtyard, with Pride trailing.

"I'll make a phone call," he said catching her by the elbow. Tears were evident in her eyes as she turned to face him. She wouldn't give Fod the satisfaction, but at the same time how could she just sacrifice Chris? She started to speak when Patton suddenly appeared with phone in hand.

"Incoming from LaSalle's phone!"

"Chris?" Brody answered placing the phone on speaker. Her heart started to swell as LaSalle's distinct accent started to flow through the line. "Come to the old slaughter house on South Masson Road. Bring Fod."

 _click_

He was alive!

Still clutching the phone in her hand, Brody marched back inside and got right up into Fod's face "No deal!"

"Can't blame a man for trying." Fod shrugged. "But you do know that they just put a bullet into the back of his head, right?"

* * *

Pride grabbed his rifle and shut the trunk. "I'll take the front, Percy and Brody go along the side and enter through the back."

Brody latched onto Fod's bicep, pulling him from the car. "Just in case they're still in the mood for a trade." Hands cuffed in front of him. He had no choice but to follow.

Moving swiftly along the edge of the wall, Brody and Percy spoke to each other in a series of nods and glances, forcing Fod to follow. Covering each other, they entered the darkened warehouse.

"Pride, we're in." Brody said softly into her com as Sonja crouched beside her.

"It's pitch black in here," the newest member of the team whispered as Brody started to pull out her flashlight from the pocket of her jacket.

Panning the room with the small light, she saw a set of chains and wrist shackles hanging from the ceiling. A little to the left laid a broken chair. But the sight of an empty five-gallon water drum and a wet towel made her stomach sick. Had Chris been water boarded? The thought made memories of her own experience with the torture begin to resurface.

Keep it together Brody, she breathed before being taken back by what sounded to be a pair of high heels clicking on the concrete floor.

"What kind of terrorist wears heels into a warehouse?" Percy asked as someone flipped the power switch, illuminating the dark building.

U.S. Attorney, Karen Izzo, appeared in the door way. "Agents, you made it here with time to spare." She beamed briefly making eye-contact with Pride as stepped out from behind a set of barrels.

"Karen, what the hell's goin' on?"

Stepping further inside, the portly official ignored his question and directed her attention to Fod. "Congratulations, Mr. Fod. You were given a test and you passed with flying colors."

What? Brody looked at the highest Attorney in the free world like she'd just been punched in the gut. This was a fucking test? They had a played a game with her life and dared to called it a test?

"Where's LaSalle?" she demanded.

Izzo picked up the two-way radio at her hip. "Bring him in."

Brody felt her knees began to tremble as Chris was escorted out of the shadows with Granger and two Homeland Security Agents. Quickly, she looked him up and down for any signs of obvious injuries. He appeared to be fine save for a bitter looking scowl. For whatever reason, he wasn't making eye contact with either she or Pride. She knew if given the choice, he would have never gone along with the scheme. He would have gotten word to her some how if he were able.

"You okay, Chris?" Pride asked sharing Brody's feeling of relief.

"I'm fine, King." Chris whipped his head around glaring at the agent to his left. "Except for getting clocked in the head with a bat."

Needless to say, he was less than thrilled when he woke up to find that he was being held by Homeland Security so that they could perform a test of Fod's worthiness using he and Brody as the bait.

After being presented with an opportunity to strike back at the woman that Fod so eagerly had wanted to kill, he unwittingly was given false information that had been planted by the U.S. government and had chosen wisely. Had he kept the intel to himself or twisted it in any way, a one-way ticket to GITMO would have been waiting for him.

"My apologies for detaining Agent LaSalle to make a point, but we needed to make sure we could trust Mr. Fod before closing the deal." Karen Izzo announced in her most professional tone. "Gentlemen, please escort Mr. Fod to the car."

"Wait, just a minute." Pride set his rifle down and started after Izzo. "You endangered the life of my people and almost got them killed."

"It was a controlled blast. You're people were never in any real danger." Izzo said over her shoulder. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other things I must attend to."

Fod started to sneer as he brushed past LaSalle, "By the way, how's the back?"

Unleased anger started to surge through Chris' veins as he pulled his fist back and landed a solid to Fod's jaw. In less than a second, the two Homeland Security Agents were on him, giving him double of what he had given to Fod.

Pride jumped into the mix, grabbing his surrogate son under the arms and pulling him back as Granger ran interference with the other agents.

"Calm down!" Pride ordered as Chris pulled against the arms that were wrapped tightly about his chest. LaSalle was pissed off and rightly so. The man who had ordered his death and tortured Brody was now going to have the luxury of working as an informant for the U.S. Government. Pride held fast as Granger continued to push the other angry agents back. Sensing an opportunity, Fod quickly picked himself up off the floor and reached for the gun of one of the distracted agents.

"GUN!" Brody's eyes went wide as the first shot rang out.


	18. Conclusion

**A/N: Here we are at the end of this wild ride.** **Thank you all for sticking with me on this adventure of crazy twists.**

GUN!" Brody's eyes went wide as the first shot rang out.

It was almost scary how five agents in the middle of a scuffle could suddenly stop and pull their weapons to return fire. It was uncertain who had actually delivered the kill shot but when all was said and done, Fod's body lay on the ground, peppered in bullet wounds.

For several moments, no one noticed that Brody was lying on the hard concrete bleeding out from a bullet wound that caught her just below the collar bone where the Kevlar ended. Was this the way things were going to end with Fod's bullet lodged in her chest?

She blinked her eyes and when she opened them the three members of family were surrounding her. Pride was pressing his jacket into her wound.

"Hang on, the ambulance is on its way."

Pride and LaSalle exchanged worried glances with Percy. Something inside of LaSalle's gut told him that they could not wait. For the first time, he began to understand the fear that Brody felt when he had been stabbed left to die in that alley way.

"There isn't time." With all of three of them in agreement, Chris scooped her up in arms and ran like hell for the Explorer. Both he and Percy sat in the back, keeping pressure of Brody's wound, while Pride drove as fast he could safely allow towards University Hospital.

Her head pressed up against his chest, Chris swept her bangs back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Hang on, Michigan, just hang on."

Percy's face twisted, increasing the pressure on the wound. "Michigan? Where the hell did that come from?"

Chris declined to answer not even realizing that he had let the pet name slip.

* * *

For the next several hours, Chris sat in the very same pew where Brody had sat, when he'd been stabbed, looking up at the same crucifix. Loretta sat beside him, gently rubbing his back, as his forearms rested on his knees in thoughtful prayer.

"You know, Christopher. God has an amazing way of bringing things to light." She said, "Prayer can be a powerful healer."

He looked up at Loretta before averting his eyes to the cross. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

Chris was in the surgical waiting room waiting to see Brody. He was already on his fourth cup of coffee in less than an hour but sad to say the rush of adrenaline and caffeine were doing nothing for him.

When he stopped to think about it he really hadn't eaten since before the Homeland Security people clobbered him with the bat. For that matter, he hadn't had any pain pills either. Bingo, the substance that his body had come to depend on over the last several weeks was running on empty, making him feel jittery among other things.

"Hey Baby Brother," Cade touched him on the shoulder forcing him to look up. The older LaSalle quickly noted the sleepy looking haze in Chris' normally deep blue eyes.

"How's Miss Brody?"

Chris looked down into his near empty cup. "Doctor said she's going to pull through, make a full recovery."

"That's great news." Cade knelt down a little closer to his brother. "Why don't we go for a walk there's something I want to show you."

Chris looked at his big brother a bit confused. He had been waiting to see Brody half the night. He was happy Cade had come to support him but he really didn't feel like talking at the moment. "Ok, but I've only got a few minutes."

Together they walked down to a deserted part of the corridor. "Here," Cade said, reaching into his pocket and handing his baby brother a brown prescription bottle.

LaSalle's face twisted. "What's this?"

"Vicodin Savannah, gave it to me."

Savannah? Chris made a mental note to talk to the friendly counselor. "Why she'd do that? You don't need this."

"You need this." Cade pointed a finger right into Chris' chest. Using the LaSalle charm, Cade had managed to sway Chris' former high school sweetheart in writing the prescription.

Chris looked at the bottle. "I think I'll just stick to what the doctor's been giving me."

Cade shook his head before wrapping his arm about the younger LaSalle's shoulders. "Chris, trust me when I say this. I can see that you're still hurting and that doctor of yours hasn't done a damn thing about it."

Chris really wanted to get back to Brody so he consented to keeping the pills. "Thanks, but tell Savannah, that in the future, I can get my own prescription."

Cade gave his baby brother a squeeze. "Don't you worry about me and Savannah, you just concentrate on getting your lady out here."

"Will do." Chris smiled shoving the bottle into his pocket before heading back into the waiting room.

* * *

When Brody finally came around to a lucid state, Chris was sitting in the bedside chair pouring through a file that was sitting in his lap. The file had been a gift from Homeland Security for being such a good detainee.

"How long have I been out?" she asked still a bit sleepy as he set the file aside and kissed her.

"Half a day maybe, but that doesn't count the last three hours that you've been talking in your sleep."

"Oh Lord," she started to smile. "What did I say?"

Chris leaned over and kissed her again. "It's not important."

Squeezing his hand, she stared at him, losing herself in his concerned filled eyes. I'm okay."

"I know." He replied, drawing her hands to his lips. "You just scared me is all."

Brody let out a small laugh. "Don't even start that, you were in a coma for seven days, seven very long, excruciating days."

Chris let out his signature grin before sinking his teeth into his bottom lip. "I guess you got me there."

"So what happened with Fod?" Brody asked, sobering.

"He's dead."

"You sure about that?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Positive. He'll never hurt you again."

A feeling of absolute relief washed over her as she realized that they were finally free. Well, almost free. They still had to deal with their memories.

"So where do we go from here?" she asked after allowing the thought to absorb. Before Homeland Security had stepped in, they had decided to take a break in order for her to work on her PTSD.

"Wherever you want to," he said, sweeping her bangs away from her face.

"How about Tahiti?" she quipped watching his eyes grow wide.

"Tahiti?" Other than a spring break trip to Mexico in college, Chris had never travelled outside of the United States.

"Tahiti," she repeated, "Just you and me in an all-inclusive resort. We'll sleep till noon every day, take long walks on the beach, order room service for dinner and maybe if you're really good we can even go skinny dippin'"

Chris felt a burn in his cheeks as he began to laugh. "There's something wrong with you."

"What makes you say that?"

"A few of those things involve water." He reminded her. "Last time I checked, you couldn't even get through a five minute shower."

"That's about to change." She said in matter of fact tone. "As soon as I get out of here, I'm going to try to get a handle on my PTSD and I think you should too."

LaSalle looked at befuddled. He wasn't suffering from PTSD.

Brody said nothing as her eyes moved to the outline of the pill bottle in his pocket of his pants.

"Oh, Listen, I don't have a problem-" he began as Brody cut him off with a leveled glare.

"I'll be right back." Rising to his feet, he walked into the restroom and reached into his pocket. Staring at the brown bottle he debated for a moment before twisting the top and dumping the pain medication Cade had just given him into the toilet.

"Problem solved."

"Chris-"

He threw up his hands. "You have my word, I'll get rid of everything that's still at home and start goin' ta meetin's if it'll make ya happy."

"I'm going to hold you to it." She teased lifting her chin for his kiss. She really didn't think he was at the point where he needed to go meetings but the idea that he had offered make her heart swell.

Chris pulled back a little when her tongue darted into his mouth. "Ya sure about this?" Before the whole debacle with Homeland Security, they well, mostly he had decided that they needed a break in order to help Brody control her flashbacks.

"Positive," she said into his lips. Now that Fod was gone, she hoped that things would return to normal and for the moment she was right. "That was nice she breathed into his neck when the kiss broke.

"Really?"

"Really," she repeated, lifting her big dark eyes to him. "Now take me home."

Chris let out a soft chuckle, kissing the tip of her nose.

"I mean it," she said looking up at him with her bedroom eyes. After dealing with Chris' stab wounds and multiple surgeries they had already spent enough time in the hospital. As far as Brody was concerned, her off the shoulder, under the collarbone gunshot wound paled in comparison. All she wanted was some alone time at home with Chris.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Brody squealed like a bride on her wedding day as he scooped her up, blankets and in all and started for the corridor in a movie style type of fashion.

Winding her arms around his neck, she smiled at him. "That was nice running by the way when you thought I thought I wasn't going to make it."

"Well, it was definitely more than you did for me in that alleyway." He quipped earning a pinch to the sensitive skin on his neck.

"How about if I make it up to you when we get home?" she grinned kissing the spot she had just pinched.

Chris looked down at her down at her grinning like a fool. "We'll see about that." More than anything he loved playing the part of hero and taking care of her.

* * *

 **3 Weeks Later…**

Brody let a deep sigh of pleasure, mixed with exhaustion. It was the kind of exhaustion that came after being with the person that you loved more than life itself. That physical connection that stayed with you long after the encounter was over.

The aftershocks of their lovemaking were still alive and kicking as she settled into Chris' arms.

"Well?" she asked. This was the first time they had been together since being declared officially free of Fod and needless to say she had been nervous. There were the underlying issues of pain and relapsing memories but they had been curbed, kicked to the side if you will.

Chris rolled onto his side so that he was facing her. "I have no words."

"Does that mean you're ready to take me to Tahiti?" she asked raising her brows.

"There's one more thing we have to do first," Chris laughed before stealing a quick peck as her expression turned to confusion.

"What's that?"

"You'll see."

* * *

 **Gator's Piano Bar**

Brody held tightly to his hand as they walked across the street to the Piano where their relationship had started. Her palms were sweating like a nervous school girl waiting for her name to be called for Homecoming Queen.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked. Her heart was practically leaping out of her chest with anxiety to come back to the place where Chris had nearly been murdered in cold blood had her PTSD running amuck.

Positive, LaSalle swung his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. "We can do this."

Brody felt herself fall under his spell as he leaned in kissing her right in the middle of the street, forcing oncoming traffic to honk and swerve around them.

"We'd better move before we get killed." Arms wrapped around each other they stepped onto the sidewalk, noting a sign on the door.

"They're closed for a private party." Brody said, already turning away. She was never say anything to Chris but she was secretly relieved. Being inside would just trudge up old memories.

"Not so fast." LaSalle caught her by the crook of the elbow, reeling her back to him.

"They're closed for our private party." He watched her eyes light up with curious confusion.

"Our private party?" she repeated slowly as she watched him dig into his pocket and pull out the key.

"The owner let his TABC license expire so I did him a favor by callin' up a friend of mine and persuading him not to impose any sanctions, so he did me a solid. Tonight this place is all ours."

Brody titled her head, smiling. "Why Agent LaSalle are you trying to seduce me?"

"I did that already." He kissed her quickly and pushed open the door. "Tonight, I thought we'd play pool."

"Pool huh?" Brody looked at him suspiciously. He had a perfectly good pool table at home, one that they had already christened in fact. Maybe this was going to be a new trend? They would go around to bars after hours and use the pool tables for their own pleasure? She could only imagine the look on Granger's face when he saw that on tape.

"Oh, and maybe a little dinner too," In the center of the room, sat a table for two complete with long white flickering candles. It soon became obvious to Brody that Chris had been planning this for quite a while. He had thought of everything; dinner, wine and even entertainment.

"So a little dinner, some pool and then what?" she asked huskily before flanking his face and drawing him to her. Now that she had a fairly decent handle on her PTSD it was time to get serious, "You going to take me out back and try to have your way with me again?" My she was feeling bold tonight and rightly so. They were F.O.F, free of Fod.

"Not tonight," he whispered into her lips before claiming her beautiful perfectly shaped mouth. One conquest at a time and tonight it was going to be the pool table at the Gator Bar.

 **A/N: As promised, a happy ending for our heroes. There is one more installment on the horizon which our dynamic duo will try to make good on their romantic getaway. But they'll have to get there first. Adult rated smut with a little drama mixed in.**


End file.
